No Quarter
by Brownriderco
Summary: Galactica is found by an Earth ship that is investigating the destruction of a science/research vessel in a nearby star system. This is Galactica '78 and disregards the second season and the re-imagined series. Rated T for mild language. Chapter 9 online.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hello. I have several chapters of this story completed and will be posting them over the next few days. I've been writing them because I seem to be blocked with 'To Ride White', hoping writing something would give me inspiration. Then my keyboard started acting up. It still works, but some keys want to stick and some keys don't register unless I press them very hard. This is fine for short paragraphs and simple corrections. It is not at all conducive to long writing sessions. The keyboard will be replaced in a few weeks, but I decided I'd go ahead and post this. These author notes have taken me 25 minutes to type up. This keyboard has got to go. Reviews are appreciated and missed when absent.

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica is copyright Glen Larson and Universal Pictures. This is fan fiction which garners _**NO MONEY OR OTHER MATERIAL COMPENSATION WHATSOEVER**_ for the author of this fan fiction. Any non-canon characters and vessels belong to me. Please ask before using them.

Chapter One

It was the year 2172 when the humans of Earth first encountered the Cylons. Fortunately for them it was in the Epsilon Eridani system.

Mankind on Earth had finally broken the light barrier and had developed what they called the hyperfold drive in 2170. There were several test flights and finally the United Earth Confederation Navy began fitting the Fold to it's ships of the line. These ships had been system patrol ships but they were now converted to interstellar vessels. Of the ninety seven UEC Navy patrol ships twenty three had been fitted with the new hyperfold. Unfortunately, mankind knew nothing about the neighboring systems and it was deemed inadvisable to send armed military ships to other star systems without knowing the political climate and how aliens would react to the presence of beings other than themselves if there was indeed life there. The last thing the UEC needed was a war, especially one caused by misunderstanding.

With that thought in mind, four science/survey ships were commissioned and built. The _Endeavor,_ a twenty person science ship, one of these four was the first.

Her orders were simple. Go out, chart Epsilon Eridani, 40 Eridani and Epsilon Indie, look for life and report findings.

Along with the hyperfold drive came the hyper-radio. Both were actually reverse engineered from a downed alien craft. The United Earth Confederation kept this as a closely guarded state secret as it was deemed that the population was not ready for such information.

The crew of the Endeavor was diverse including seven from the North American province, six British provincials, four from the Russian province, two from the province of Israel, and one from Arab. Thirteen of them were men, seven were women. They were all the best in their respective fields.

* * *

"Fold translation successful," the helmsman, Lt. Mohammad al Sadiqq called out.

The captain, Tatya Bolshivic nodded. "Thank you, Lieutenant. Sciences, begin scanning system. Cartography, begin mapping operations."

"Sciences, Aye."

"Cartography, Aye."

Bolshivic pressed a button on the side of her chair. A small terminal and keyboard extended from the side of the chair and moved into position. She opened her official journal and began typing an entry.

_Arrived Epsilon Eridani without incident. Beginning standard survey. Area appears to be peaceful. Still, something doesn't feel right. I can't explain it, perhaps it's being out of the Sol system for the first time. No matter, we will perform our mission to the best of our ability._

She saved the log and took a stylus. She signed on the screen under the text to authenticate the entry and hit the button to retract the interface back into the chair.

Lt. Yeshua Ben David called out. "Fourth planet seems to be inhabited. Receiving radio signals. Fourth planet appears to be point of origin."

"Does the language seem familiar, Mr Ben David?"

"No, ma'am," he replied. "Wait. What?" He stared at his display. "Captain. This is incredible." He worked some controls and a face appeared on the main viewer.

Bolshivic's mouth fell open. "Bozhe Moi," she breathed. "A Vulcan? This isn't possible."

"No Ma'am," Ben David replied. "Notice he's smiling. I watched Star Trek as a boy and Vulcans don't smile. Rather odd coincidence that our first contact would be with a species that resembles the Vulcans of an ancient vid program. And the first species Humans in that show were introduced to were beings that look similar to these."

"Ship just appeared, Captain," reported Sadiqq. "Twenty thousand kilometers off our starboard bow."

Suddenly the alert klaxon started sounding.

"Incoming missile," reported the helmsman.

"Launch chaff," Bolshevic ordered.

"Launching Chaff," replied Sadiqq. "No effect. The projectile is ignoring it. Estimate strike in five seconds."

"New course 0 by 090. Full speed, Engage."

"Engaging. Missile missed us. Delta Vee should make it impossible to change course and chase us before it runs out of fuel."

"Communications. All frequencies," Bolshevic ordered.

"All frequencies open, Ma'am," This from her XO.

"This is the science ship Endeavor. We are an unarmed survey ship on a charting mission. We surrender."

"They are launching another missile. It's chasing us."

"Evasive maneuvers Mr. Sadiqq. XO, send all logs and flight recorder information to Earth in a burst using the hyperradio."

"Yes, Captain."

"Send emergency voice message to Fleet Ops, in the clear."

"Channel open, Ma'am," replied the Exec.

"Fleet Opsl," Bolshevic called into the microphone. "This is _Endeavor._ Code Alpha One Orange. Sending telemetry and logs as well. They will not accept surrend..." The missile struck vaporizing the Endeavor and all twenty souls aboard her.

* * *

UEC Navy Fleet Operations, located in Houston, knew something was wrong when they received a distress message.

"Incoming message," a communications tech reported. "It's audio with a data sub-feed. Looks like it's telemetry and logs including flight recorder."

"Put it up on the speakers," ordered Commodore Clarence Jones, the duty officer. Sending ship's logs and flight recorder couldn't be good.

Through the speakers came the message they all had hoped never to hear.

_Fleet Ops, this is _Endeavor_. Code Alpha One Orange. Sending telemetry and logs as well. They will not accept surren..." _The transmission broke in static.

"Endeavor. This is Mission control. Do you copy? _Endeavor, _respond."

"Son of a bitch." this from one of the telemetry stations. "They can't respond, Commodore. They aren't there anymore."

Jones spoke up. "What? What do you mean they aren't there anymore, mister?"

"The telemetry shows that they were under attack. There was a visual recorder feed as well. We show an incoming missile from what appears to be a large ship shaped like two discs connected along their axes. The missile hit and then the feed terminates. At the same time that the voice message stopped."

"Well, obviously they were under attack. That's what a Code Alpha One Orange is. Do we have any idea who these attackers are?"

"No, sir," reported a technician. "The logs indicate the vessel jumped in in a fashion similar to the Hyperfold."

"Similar? But not exact?"

The technician shook her head. "No sir. There was no flash. Suddenly they were just there."

The commodore picked up the red phone and pressed the button in the center of it.

"Mr Prime Minister. _Endeavor_ is presumed destroyed by a hostile alien force in the Epsilon Eridani system."

A pause.

"Yes sir. They reported a Code Alpha One Orange. From what we could get it appears the aliens wouldn't accept surrender."

Another pause.

"Yes, sir. They sent their logs and flight recorder as well as telemetry... Yes sir. I'll get right on it." He hung up the phone.

"Alright," he called out. "Listen up, everyone. What happened here today is beyond Top-Secret. No one, absolutely no one, is to discuss this outside this room under threat of criminal prosecution for High Treason."

The technicians looked at each other in shock. High Treason?

"I want everything on disc and then a complete destructive overwrite of everything connected with _Endeavor._ We don't need to cause a panic. Supposedly the Hyperfold and Hyper-radio are untraceable, but we do not know what the capabilities of these aliens are. Remember. They would not accept surrender."

* * *

The United Earth Confederation Security council convened an emergency session and after three days of suggestions and discussions, it was decided that they would look into building a space control warship.

When they met again in two weeks, it was revealed that such was possible. The contractors however, quoted a price that when all was said and done was just over seven billion marks.

"Seven _billion!_" Trevor Enwright, The representative from the European provinces exploded. "That's ludicrous."

"Here, here," concurred Mossad Bar David, from Israel. "This is beyond our means."

Charles Enloe, the Representative from the North American province spoke up. "What would you have us do? These people or whatever they are destroyed an unarmed science vessel. They wouldn't even accept surrender. Do we need to play the transmissions yet again?"

"Maybe we were in their space," Enwright riposted. "Did you consider that?"

"I considered it and rejected it, sir." This from Sergei Romanov, the representative from the province of Russia. "They wouldn't accept surrender. Our people sent our intentions of charting only and they fired anyway. _Endeavor_ barely managed to avoid that one and sent a transmission that they surrender. And were still destroyed. That is not reasonable behavior, even from my ancestors who were rather bloodthirsty. Whoever or whatever these beings are, they represent a threat to this planet. We must defend our world at all costs. We have nowhere else to go."

In the end, which took three more days of discussions, it was decided to present it to the General Assembly for a vote.

Three months after the first Security Council meeting, construction commenced on the first United Earth space control warship. What they were calling a battlecarrier. The name still was being discussed amongst the Security Council and the United Earth Navy began selecting members of it's ranks to man this ship along with other ships that were planned in the future.

* * *

A/N: That's it for chapter 1. Chapter 2 coming soon. Don't forget to review.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Here begins the real meat of the story. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Reviews are expected and missed when absent

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica is copyrighted to Glen Larson and Universal Pictures. This is fan fiction which garners _**NO MONEY OR OTHER MATERIAL COMPENSATION WHATSOEVER**_ for the author of this fan fiction

Chapter Two

Captain Edward Perez, stood in the control room of the Battlecarrier _Terran Shield_. This was primarily a warship, although there were provisions for studying alien biospheres and other phenomena. Perez had been one of three candidates, but his command experience with the _Intrepid_ class patrol vessels, the largest vessels ever put into space, was one of the deciding factors. Although this beast made them look like light corvettes.

The man was born to command and had a knack for engendering trust and loyalty in his subordinates. The fact that he was an amateur scientist and astronomer also was not lost on the selection board.

The last of the "Air group" was landing. It was more of a space group, but it was still called the Air Group. Apparently, CAG, Commander Air Group, had a better ring to it than CSG, Commander Space Group.

The engineers had shaken their heads and grumbled when Perez had insisted on a feed from the landing decks. He was old school and wanted to be able to see the birds as they landed, although the _Intrepids_ had only ever carried six fighters. That was still six more than any of the other vessels in the fleet.

"That's the last of them sir," 1st class petty officer Pamela Reed called from the flight ops station. "CAG says he'll be up here as soon as he can."

"Thank you," Perez nodded to the crew-woman.

"Sir, Incoming message from Command." This from Ensign Mark Culpepper, a young man from London.

"On screen, Ensign."

The image of Admiral Ferdinand appeared. "How long till your air group is aboard, Captain?"

"The last of them just landed, Admiral."

"Bueno. You are cleared to leave Earth orbit. Good luck, Captain. You know your orders. Carry them out."

"Yes sir. I'd like to wait a day before we jump. I want to bring my CAG up to speed and I want my fighters prepared for a magnum launch when we hit Epsilon Eridani, just in case."

"You're the Captain," the Admiral responded. "I think we can wait one more day. But I want you on your way by this time tomorrow."

Perez nodded. "Yes, Sir. We will be."

"Bueno," Ferdinand said. "Command out."

"_Terran Shield_, out." The video from Earth ceased and the screen turned dark.

"Maintain standard orbit," Perez ordered.

Receiving a "Yes, Sir." from the helm, the captain settled into his command chair to wait for his CAG. He shook his head as he remembered arguing with the engineers. The idiots had built this damn thing with no chairs in the control room. They had said none were necessary. Perez disagreed and told them he wanted his crew alert, not dragging after six hours of an eight hour shift, which would happen if they were on their feet that long.

The engineers had grudgingly complied. The chairs were by no means easy chairs but they did get the crew get off their feet. Which was what Perez had wanted. He had given the engineers specifications. Make them padded, but not so comfortable that the crew would fall asleep.

While he was doing routine paperwork, the CAG entered the room. Perez was facing away from the door, but knew who his CAG was. He had requested the man after all.

"Commander John Rollins, Commander Air Group reporting, Captain."

Perez rose from his seat and turned to face his CAG. Rollins face registered shock as Perez returned the salute.

"Wetback? You're the skipper of this tin rocket?"

"It's good to see you too, Wildcard. And this is not a 'tin rocket'. This is the most advanced vessel ever built."

"Yes sir. Sorry sir."

Perez waved if off and smiled. "I do know how you feel. When they offered me command I just about had to pick my jaw off the floor. A space carrier with a fold drive? I thought they'd been at the Mary Jane."

Rollins smiled at that. This was a man he could trust. "So do I have to ask how I got command of the _Air_ Group."

Perez smiled again. "Nope. You know the answer. I selected you. You are the best fighter pilot I've ever seen. Even better than me."

"I don't know, skipper. Some of these pilots we've got make me look like a piker. This is the best damned crew of fighter jocks I've ever seen."

"Well, that's good. Cause we are scheduled to jump to Epsilon Eridani in less than twenty four hours. I want CAP launched immediately upon successful completion of the jump. I also want to be prepared for an immediate magnum launch. We are jumping into unknown territory where we lost an unarmed science ship. I want to be ready for anything."

Rollins looked at his skipper, his eyes wide. Then he found his voice. "Yes, sir. We'll be ready."

Perez nodded and looked directly at his XO. "I'll be in my quarters. You have the con, Mr. Yin."

"Yes, sir," responded Commander Hong Yin, the executive officer.

"Come with me John. We have ship's business to discuss."

* * *

When they were in Perez's quarters, which were located a short distance from the Control room, Rollins asked, "Where did you find the XO? She's a real looker."

"Better be careful around her, Wildcard. She'd kick your ass up and down the hangar deck. Hell, she intimidates me and I'm her C.O."

"That little thing?" Rollins always had been a ladies man.

"That little thing has a eighth degree black belt in Kung Fu, and Tai Chi, and a seventh degree black belt in Tai Kwan Do."

Rollins couldn't believe it. "She's not old enough for that many martial arts degrees."

"She started studying the martial arts at five years old," Perez replied. "But enough of that." He opened his safe and removed his orders and the accompanying data. He handed them to Rollins.

"This is what we're facing, Wildcard. Read it and then tell me what you think."

Rollins read the orders and the accompanying data and then looked up at the captain. "No surrender? What have they thrown us into?"

"Protecting our planet. We have no idea who or what these aliens are. As it says there, they're calling them the Outsiders." Perez shrugged. "That's as good a name as any, I suppose."

Rollins rubbed his chin and said, "Well, you lucked out with the Air group. Like I told you on the Bridge, this is the best damn crew of pilots I've ever seen."

Perez nodded. "That's good. And it's the Control Room, not the Bridge. This ship doesn't have a Bridge."

"What's up with that?"

"The idea is that a bridge is vulnerable to being destroyed and the top of the command structure along with it," Perez told him. "This way, it's unlikely that that will happen."

"Ok. So the next question is, it's been almost twenty months since this _Endeavor_ was destroyed. Why Epsilon Eridani? Do they really think the Outsiders are going to still be hanging around after all this time?"

Perez shook his head. "Not really, although we can't be certain. Our first task is to find the remains of the _Endeavor_ and salvage it. Find out what hit them. It's also possible that some of the crew ejected and landed on a planet there. We know of three from terrestrial astronomy. There may be more. In any event we are to use the new sensor package to sweep all the planets in search of survivors."

Rollins nodded. That made sense. "But what if we encounter these Outsiders?"

"We try diplomacy and if that's not successful," Perez's voice now turned hard, "we show them that fucking with us is a mistake."

Rollins nodded. "So, that's the reason for the readiness for a magnum launch. Well, our fighters have shield generators. What about the _Shield?_"

"They were able to adapt the shield technology to give us a protective bubble," Perez said, "but we don't expect it to last long in any kind of combat. Maybe give us a slight edge, absorb one or two hits before collapsing. That could be the difference between defeat and victory, though."

Rollins nodded. "Well, if you'll excuse me, Captain, I need to get down to the hangar deck and get the deck crew on getting these birds fueled, armed and ready for a magnum launch."

"Dismissed, Wildcard," Perez told him. "Get 'em ready. Command wants us on our way by this time tomorrow. And I don't want to disappoint them."

"Yes, sir. One more thing. How did the shakedown cruise go?"

"The hyperfold worked flawlessly to Alpha Centauri and back . The main batteries have also been tested. Other than that, you'll be the one of the first to know, Wildcard. This _is_ our shakedown cruise."

"But. We haven't had a shakedown?" Rollins couldn't believe it.

"This ship was built in response to the threat from the Outsiders. There's been no time. Off you go."

Rollins shook his head in wonder. Then he stood and saluted, which Perez returned. Then he turned on his heel and was gone.

* * *

A/N: That's it for Chapter 2. I know it's a bit short, but some of the other chapters will be longer. Don't forget to review.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Here is the next chapter. These 1st 3 chapters are needed for a bit of background and to set the tone of the first contact. This is an extremely minor revision. Seems I had a horizontal line in the wrong place. Reviews are appreciated and missed when absent.

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica is copyrighted to Glen Larson and Universal Pictures. This is fan fiction which garners **_NO MONEY OR OTHER MATERIAL COMPENSATION WHATSOEVER_** for the author of this fan fiction

Chapter Three

Perez was in his office. He called up the flight roster and shook his head. The CAG didn't do CAP. What was the man thinking? He stood and headed to the pilot's briefing room.

Rollins was giving instructions when he walked in. All present got to their feet and came to attention.

"As you were, everyone," Perez said.

As the pilots sat back down, Perez waked to the podium. "Commander, you know regs. CAG only flies during a magnum launch. Yet I see you on the roster for CAP."

"I'll ask no one to do what I'm not willing to do myself, sir."

"Good man," Perez nodded. "But irrelevant. You are off the CAP rotation. I won't have my air boss risking himself needlessly."

"But sir..." Rollins began.

"Is your hearing defective, Commander? Or maybe it's your comprehension skills. I gave you a direct order. I expect you to follow it."

"Yes, sir," Rollins said and saluted.

Perez returned the salute, nodded to the pilots and left the room.

"Well, you heard the man," Rollins sighed. "Maniac, you're next on the CAP rotation. If you scratch the paint on that bird in anything other than combat, I'll have you for breakfast."

The pilots chuckled at this.

* * *

Perez walked into the control room. He took a seat in his command chair and looked to his left. "Report, Commander. How soon till the air group is ready for a magnum launch?"

"They just reported ready sir. Jump calculations have been completed and are on the board. Hyperfold is charged and ready."

"Excellent work, Hong." He directed his next order to the communications station. "Open a channel to Headquarters."

"Channel open, sir," Reed replied. "Admiral Ferdinand is on the line."

"Admiral. We are ready to engage the fold."

"Bueno," Ferdinand said. "You are cleared to engage. Good luck, Captain."

"Thank you sir. _Terran Shield_, out." He made a slashing motion across his throat.

"Channel closed, sir."

"Thank you. Engage hyperfold."

"Yes, sir. All hands. Prepare to jump. Jumping in three, two, one, Now!"

There was a moment of disorientation as the ship seemed to disappear around the crew for an instant and then everything was normal.

"Hyperfold translation sucessful, sir," Reed reported. "Showing we are five AU's off the photosphere of Epsilon Eridani."

Perez nodded. "Good. Launch CAP."

"Cap away," Yin reported.

"No contacts in immediate vicinity," Chief Petty Officer John Running Deer, the radar operator, reported.

"Thank you, Mr. Running Deer. Begin long range scan of the system."

"Yes, Captain."

"Mr. Yin. Have the air group stand down from magnum launch status. Have Commander Rollins report to my quarters. You have the Conn. Let me know when you find something."

"Yes, sir," she responded.

As he was leaving the room he heard Yin's voice over the ship-wide. "Air group, stand down from magnum launch status. Commander Rollins, report to the Captain's quarters."

* * *

Perez had just finishing his log when the door chime sounded.

"Come, in, Wildcard," he called.

Rollins walked in. He saluted and said, "Commander Rollins reporting as ordered, sir."

Perez returned the salute and said, "Sit down, Wildcard. And that's the last time you have to salute when we are in private. And call me Ed or even Wetback."

"I'm not too sure if I'm comfortable with that sir."

"You were my wingman. You're my best friend. Diablo take protocol. It's lonely at the top. Don't make it even lonelier."

"If that's the way you want it, Ed," Rollins responded. "But I don't care for you calling me out in front of my pilots."

"I did it for you, John."

"For me? You want to explain that?"

Perez let out a sigh. "I understand why you put yourself on the CAP. Like you said, you won't ask others to do what you won't do yourself. But I couldn't let it stand, and I couldn't have your pilots thinking that you had second thoughts about doing the CAP when you took yourself off of it. Cause I know damn well you wouldn't explain why. You can be a real pain in the ass at times, but you aren't a whiner or buck passer."

Rollins smiled ruefully at that. What the man said was true.

"So how's the air department looking?"

"Looking real good, Ed. The deck gang are real pros. They know their business."

The intercom chose this moment to signal an incoming call.

"Perez here."

"Control here," reported Yin. "Sir, we are reading seven planets. Two, possible E class. One likely."

E class planets. Meaning they were likely to be able to support human life. Well, one was likely to anyway.

"Why is one likely and one only possible?"

"Location in orbit of the primary," the XO elucidated. "The likely one is in an ideal position for life forms such as ourselves to survive. The other one is barely inside the habitable zone. It would be very cold, even if it did possess a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere."

"Anything else?" Perez asked.

"Nothing so far, sir," Yin replied.

"How long at maximum pulse to reach the probable?"

"Fifty four minutes, sir," she replied.

Perez nodded and began issuing orders. "Set course for the probable. Maximum pulse. Make sure engineering has those contraction compensators on line. We don't need a time dilation. Let me know ten minutes from orbital insertion. Recall the CAP. As soon as they are aboard and Engineering gives the green light, engage.

"Understood sir," Yin said. "Control out."

"Why did you pick her," Rollins wanted to know.

Perez chuckled. "Like I told you, she intimidates me. If she intimidates the skipper, imagine what she does to the rest of the crew. She'll keep them in line. I don't have time to be settling silly little inter-departmental squabbles. She does as that's the job of the XO."

"I'm not too sure I'm comfortable creating spacial waves. Doesn't seem natural, somehow."

"And man flying in space is?" Perez shook his head.

"I know, I know. But what if those contraction compensators don't work as planned?

"Then we're going to be gone a bit longer than we realize," Perez said. "But I wouldn't worry. The pulse drive is connected to them. They fail and so does the pulse drive."

"What?" Rollins couldn't believe it. "But what if we're in combat?"

"You worry too much, Wildcard," Perez told him. "We've already thought of that. Mac can have them bypassed in less than five minutes if need be. Now get out of here. I want to catch a quick nap."

"Yes sir." Rollins stood and almost saluted before he caught himself. He turned and walked out the door."

* * *

Perez walked into the control room and stood by his command chair. He was too restless to sit for any length of time.

He looked at his XO. "Still no sign of wreckage or debris, Commander?"

Yin shook her head. "No sir."

"Main viewer on. Forward camera."

"Forward camera activated. Activating the viewer," Yin replied.

The main viewer lit and showed a blackness with stars in the background. Within five minutes one of the stars began growing noticeably larger. It resolved into a disk which grew steadily as they approached. Soon they were looking at a bluish/orange planet with clouds scattered here and there.

"All stop," Yin called out.

"Answering all stop," the helmsman replied. "Pulse drive disengaged." A pause and then, "Now indicating all stop."

"CAP successfully launched," Rollins reported.

"Thank you," Perez told them. "That was outstanding work, everyone. You make me proud to serve with you all. Now, back to business. Looks like it has an atmosphere," Perez commented, "but I've never seen seas that color."

"That's because the star emits orange light sir," Lt. Commander Hayden Whyte, the Navigator said. "Unlike our star, Sol, which emits yellow light."

Perez nodded. "Assume standard orbit," he ordered.

"Yes sir," replied the helm.

A short time later, "Standard orbital insertion achieved."

"Thank you. Begin scanning the surface."

"Scanning now, sir," Running Deer responded.

Suddenly there came a gasp. "Son of a bitch. Reading ruins. Almost a hundred cities. It looks like they've been destroyed in an attack. Reading high energy signatures. It looks like some kind of weapons fire."

The man looked up at Perez. "No life signs other than four legged fauna. And not a whole lot of that. Sir, I think this world was murdered."

Rollins saw the grim set the Captain's face took on. He knew no one else could see it, for the Captain hid it well, but he saw grieving in the eyes of his friend. He understood how the man felt. Their first meeting with another intelligence aborted because someone destroyed their civilization.

"Any idea of when this happened?" Perez asked.

Running Deer was consulting his board. "I can't give you an exact time sir..."

"An estimate will do, Chief," Perez inturrupted.

"From the rate of decay of the energy signatures, it appears it happened between nineteen and twenty one months ago," the crewman reported.

"The _Endeavor_..." Rollins began only to be interrupted by Perez.

"Very possible, Wildcard." Perez was nodding. He was thinking the same thing. The Endeavor had arrived shortly before or after this slaughter. "Very possible, indeed. Communications. Package all our sensor logs, ship's logs and flight recorders and send them to Command via the hyper-radio. Include this with the package in text form only. 'Civilization found at Epsilon Eridani. Civilization destroyed by unknown agency. Chance of survivors slim. _Terran Shield_ investigating. Debris from Endeavor has yet to be located. Will report findings upon completion of investigation. Logs and flight recorders appended.' Encrypt the entire package including the text using Scheme Three."

"Yes sir," Ensign Culpepper replied. "Logs and recorders packaged. Text message added. Encrypting now."

"Mr. Yin. Looks like you'll be one of the first to set foot on alien soil. Take a shuttle down and find out what you can. Take a a squad of six marines with you as well as Dr. Lowe and Dr. Nasser. Wildcard. I want four fighters to to fly escort for the landing party."

"Yes, sir," Rollins acknowledged.

"Off you go, Hong. Find out as much as you can, but I want you back in no more than eight hours."

"That's not much time, sir."

"I know, Hong. But it's all the time you have. I want to check out the other E class and I don't want to be without my XO. On your way."

Yin saluted and exited the control room.

Rollins was at the Flight Ops station giving instructions to the four pilots he had chosen to fly escort.

"Encrypting complete, sir," Culpepper announced. "Sending message now."

Perez nodded then looked at his officer of the deck, Lieutenant Cynthia Knight. "I'll be in my quarters, Mr. Knight. Mind the store."

"Yes, sir," she replied.

* * *

Perez dreamed he met blue people with antennae on their head and they were asking for help but he had a hard time understanding them. He awoke with a start. Blue people? With Antennae for ears? Where had that come from?

He shook his head. Just a dream. It was unlikely the beings that had inhabited the planet were anything like humans. They might even have been little green people for all he knew.

He shaved and dressed and was in the control room in nine minutes. He checked the clock and saw it was seven hours and thirty minutes since Yin had left.

"Mr. Culpepper. Contact Commander Yin. Tell her her time is up and get back here with what she has."

"Yes, sir." He worked his controls and then said, "She just contacted us and is on her way back. She is estimating twenty minutes til arrival."

Perez nodded. "Mr. Whyte. Plot a course to the other possible E class planet. How long at maximum pulse?"

"Plotting and running the calculations now." He paused while he worked the navigation console. Shortly he had an answer. "Three hours and fourteen minutes."

"More than three hours? What, is it located on the opposite side of the star?"

"Not quite," Whyte replied. "But a direct course would take us dangerously close to the photosphere."

Perez nodded. "Understood. Your original course is fine then. Helm, lay in Mr. Whyte's course. Officer of the Deck. As soon as Yin is aboard, recall the cap and then when they are aboard, engage the pulse drive at maximum speed using the Navigator's course. Let me know ten minutes before we arrive."

"Understood, sir," Culpepper answered.

"Have Commander Yin report to my quarters when she arrives," Perez ordered. "You have the Conn, Mr. Culpepper."

* * *

Perez had finished his logs and had called Rollins to his quarters. He was relaxing on his sofa when the door chime sounded.

"Come in."

Yin entered and he got up and went to his desk.

"The CAP is aboard and we are en-route to the other Class E. Sir, what we found down there was remarkable."

Perez held up his hand. "Save it for a bit. I want Commander Rollins present. He's on his way. Can I get you some coffee, Hong?"

"Yes, sir. I'll take a cup. Black, please."

Perez poured three cups and handed one to her just when the door chime sounded again.

"Come on in, Wildcard," Perez called out.

Rollins walked in the door and Perez handed him a cup of coffee.

"Thanks, Wetback. Coffee here is sure better than what we had on the _Coral Sea_.

"That's Captain, or sir," Yin said sharply.

"No, it's not, Commander," Perez told her. "Commander Rollins and I go way back. He was my wingman. He's saved my ass several times. He can call me Ed or even Wetback. You and I get to know each other that well and you can be as familiar. Seeing as we don't, you'll still address me as Captain or Sir. Does my calling you Hong offend you?"

"No sir. I actually prefer my first name among equals or superiors."

"Good. Sit down, Wildcard. So what have you got, Hong?"

"There were cities. They were in ruins. The two we overflew had been leveled and there was nothing but rubble. But we were able to land and we found an underground complex. Whoever did this sent ground troops in. There were marks on bodies that resembled laser burns and some looked like they had been killed with some kind of slashing weapon. But we were able to access some of their music and audio/video recordings. Their music speaks to your soul." She pressed some keys on the tablet computer she carried and unearthly music came from the speaker.

Perez had never heard anything like it. He was in tears and he wasn't a man to give free vent to his emotions.

He looked at Rollins and he was in tears as well.

"Shut it off," Perez said in a rough, husky voice.

The music stopped and Perez said, "My _God_. That's an example of their music? What kind of people were these?"

Yin handed him the tablet and he looked at the screen. A good looking young man stared back at him but the ears came up to points. The man was smiling which seemed out of place.

"I recognize him, somehow, or maybe it's his species, if that's even possible," Perez told her, handing the tablet to Rollins.

Yin nodded. "Dr. Nasser identified his race. Not really his race. Have you ever watched the old TV program, Star Trek?"

"No. I didn't. I take it you didn't either."

"No, sir. I didn't. According to Dr. Nasser, the Vulcans of Star Trek resembled these aliens."

"And they came from Epsilon Eridani?" Rollins asked. "That's a rather strange coincidence."

Yin shook her head. "No. According to Dr. Nasser, they came from 40 Eridani."

Perez remembered his dream of blue people and pressed a button on his desk. "Computer. Reference the cultural entertainment database. Star Trek. In that series, were there blue skinned beings that had antennae instead of ears?"

"Working," the baritone computer voice replied. After about ten seconds the computer continued. "Match found. In Star Trek, the Andorians had blue skin and antennae which were their auditory organs. They are listed as a founding member of the United Federation of Planets, the protagonist governmental entity of the series"

"In which system was Andor located in the series," Perez asked.

"Epsilon Indie. No indication of planetary location given in Canon."

"End query," Perez told the computer. "While Commander Yin was on her mission to that planet I had a dream. I dreamed I met blue skinned people with antennae for ears. They seemed to be asking for help but I couldn't understand them."

"But you said you hadn't watched Star Trek," Rollins said. "Could it be you overheard someone talking about it and just forgot?"

Perez nodded. "Very possible. I still can't shake the feeling it's important somehow."

"Could be coincidence, sir," said Yin.

"Could be. But I'm not taking chances. After we check out the other E class planet, we are going to Epsilon Indie."

"On the basis of a dream?" Rollins didn't understand this. His friend was not a man to jump to conclusions.

"Intuition is recognized as command prerogative. I want to check out Forty Eridani as well. Might as well complete Endeavor's mission, but somehow, I feel the need to check out the home system of these fictional Andorians first. And no, I don't expect to find blue skinned aliens with antennae for ears. To be perfectly honest, I don't know what to expect."

Yin was nodding. "Intuition is indeed recognized as command prerogative. And you are the Captain. If you feel we need to go there, then that's where we'll go."

Perez had known he could count on Yin. She was the consummate military officer. She wasn't above taking initiative, but when she received a lawful order, she followed it.

The debriefing continued. They found out the natives called the planet Sakranth and the computer had managed to determine that their species name was Rotroka.

"It probably translates to Human," Perez mused. "Just as Sakranth most likely translates to Earth, maybe soil or dirt, as well."

The databanks were massive sir," Yin reported. "It took five one hundred terabyte chips for the data we found. I'm sure there's more, but that's all that was in the computer in the complex we found. The mainframe is still working on a translation matrix."

Perez nodded.

* * *

They reached their destination and found it to be a barren rock. There was an atmosphere but it was not breathable by humans, even it it did have gravity similar to Earth. They had still found no sign of debris from the research vessel.

"Recall CAP," Perez ordered. "Combat refueling, I want them back on the launch rails soonest. Navigator, plot a fold jump for Epsilon Indie. CAG, I want us ready for a magnum launch upon arrival."

"Epsilon Indie, aye," Whyte acknowledged. "Running computations. Any preference where in the system?"

"Between one and five AU from the photosphere," Perez replied. "Other than that, surprise me."

"Yes, sir," the man replied. "Estimating ten minutes to complete computations."

Rollins had opened the shipwide. "Flight Quarters! Flight Quarters! All personnel concerned man your Flight Quarters stations. All pilots to your crafts, prepare for Magnum launch. Refuel and prepare CAP for relaunch using combat protocols. Now Flight Quarters."

"Cap is aboard," reported the XO.

"Thank you," Perez acknowledged. He opened and updated his logs and did routine ship's business while they waited.

"Computations complete and on the board," Whyte announced.

"Hyperfold charged and ready sir," Yin said.

"Engage hyperfold," Perez ordered.

* * *

A/N: That's it for this chapter. Next one will be a good one as it details the first contact of the Earthers and the Colonials. Don't forget to review.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Here is the next chapter and here is where it gets interesting. Reviews are appreciated and missed when absent.

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica is copyrighted to Glen Larson and Universal Pictures. This is fan fiction which garners _**NO MONEY OR MATERIAL COMPENSATION WHATSOEVER**_ for the author of this work.

Chapter Four

Boomer and Jolly were on long range survey/patrol of the system. It was boring duty. They had swept two planets that were basically barren rocks with little or no resources and they were heading for a third. Jolly was bored out of his skull.

"What did we do to earn this duty, Boomer? There isn't a Cylon within light yahrens. And we get stuck doing planetary survey."

"We didn't do anything special," Boomer replied. "We were just next up on the rotation."

Jolly just happened to be looking to his starboard when there was a flash of light and a ship appeared.

"What the frack? We got company, Boomer."

Boomer saw it on his scanner and turned to look. "Is that a firestar? No. Looks kind of what one looked like, but it's not. They're launching fighters!"

"Getting human life readings from the fighters," Jolly reported. "What kind of ships are those anyway?"

"Checking the Warbook," Boomer told him. "No match. Stay on my wing, Jolly and hit the turbos. We're getting out of here."

"This isn't the way back to Galactica," Jolly complained.

"Don't you think I know that? We are not going to lead them home."

Jolly was busy looking at his scanner. "No signs of pursuit. Maybe perimeter patrol. We aren't threatening them or their mothership so they leave us alone."

"Contacting Galactica on secure channel," Boomer said. "Galactica, this is Boomer. Unknown ship detected. Fighters launched. We are moving away from them, no sign of pursuit."

"Boomer, Galactica," came the voice of Colonel Tigh. "What type of ship? Is it the Cylons?"

"Boomer here. Doesn't seem like it. Human life signs detected. No sign of pursuit. Could be the fighters are perimeter patrol. There's only two of them. But the ship wasn't there one moment and it was the next. There was no approach."

"Galactica, this is Jolly. There was a flash of light and when it was gone, that ship was there. Looks similar to a Firestar."

"This is Adama. Return to Galactica. We'll have a reception for them if they decide they want to follow you."

"Boomer here. Understood. Returning to Galactica.

* * *

"Translation successful," Reed reported. "Now launching CAP."

"Detecting two one man fighter craft, sir," Running Deer reported. "Unknown configuration. Sixteen kilometers off our starboard quarter. Reading human life signs."

"What?" Perez couldn't believe it. Two foreign fighters with humans aboard?

"They're running sir," Reed said. "CAP wants to know if they should pursue."

"Negative. They aren't threatening us. Let them go, but keep an eye on them, Mr. Running Deer."

"Transmitting the order," Reed acknowledged.

"Yes, sir," the chief replied.

"Commence long range scan of system," Perez ordered.

"Commencing system sweep," Running Deer reported.

"Any ideas, Hong? How could two fighters we've never seen before have humans aboard more than ten light years from Earth?"

"I don't know, sir. There is a theory, but it's pretty wild."

"Well, let's hear it Commander," this from Rollins.

"There is speculation in archeological circles that humans were planted on Earth millenia ago. Some theorize that the Great pyramids were built by aliens. I don't subscribe to that theory because there is evidence it was built by the ancient Egyptians. But there have been archeological finds that just don't add up."

"I'd heard some of this," Perez said, "but I never gave it much thought." He rubbed his chin, thinking. "If these are humans that come from a civilization that colonized Earth, shouldn't they have much higher technology than we've seen? And to run? If they are that much more advanced, they shouldn't be afraid even though we are much, much bigger than they are."

Chief Running Deer spoke up. "Sir, I am reading a ship, or maybe ships on long range. I have to assume it's more than one ship. Dozens, possibly hundreds, but the resolution of our scanners is insufficient."

"Why dozens or hundreds, Chief?"

"Captain, the reading I'm getting puts the other ship, if it is only one ship at approximately twenty five kilometers long. And the two we met when we emerged from fold are heading directly for them. Estimating it will take them five hours at their current speed to reach their destination."

"Twenty five kilometers? Mother of God!" Rollins exclaimed. Then he called flight quarters. "Captain, I'm for the hangar deck. If there's a magnum launch, I'll lead from space."

Perez nodded. "How far are they, Chief?"

Running Deer consulted his console. "Approximately zero point eight AU."

"How long at maximum pulse, Navigator?"

Whyte was running the calculations. "Approximately eight minutes 45 seconds."

Perez nodded. "Too bad our fighters don't have pulse drive or contraction compensators. Set course for the foreign ship or ships. Recall the CAP. As soon as they are aboard, engage at full pulse. Drop out of Pulse drive when we catch up to the two fighters. They may not understand us, but I want to present our landing bays to them in an invitation to land. No need for them to take all that time getting home when we can get them there, that much quicker." He thumbed the shipwide. "Commander Rollins return to the Control Room."

"Sir, if it were you, would you land on an unknown foreign ship that just conveniently presented its landing bays to you?" Yin asked.

Perez chuckled ruefully. "Probably not, Hong. We'll be sending a message to them. Hopefully they can understand us. If not, then we'll leave them to get home the long way while we proceed on to their destination. If nothing else, it's a show of good faith."

* * *

Boomer and Jolly were headed for _Galactica_ at full speed when Jolly reported, "Something coming up from behind. Closing fast." He couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Sweet Lords of Kobol, they are at three-quarters light."

Boomer was about to open a channel to _Galactica_ when his ship was buffeted for a moment and then the unknown ship appeared in front of him and Jolly. The ship turned to show what appeared to be open landing bays. They appeared to be open on both ends as he could see stars through them.

"Detecting no fighter launch, Boomer. Detecting no build up of power that would indicate their weapons are on line or ready to fire."

"What the frack is going on here?" Boomer wondered speaking over the comm.

"Could they be ordering us to land on their deck?" Jolly asked.

"I'm not so sure order is the correct term," Boomer mused. "Their main batteries aren't charged, they haven't launched fighters. It looks like an invitation to me."

He saw a light in his cockpit illuminate, then a strange voice came over the speakers. "This is Captain Perez of the Battle Carrier _Terran Shield_. We would like to invite you and your wingmate to land. We can have you to your destination in about seven minutes.

Boomer didn't know what a minute was but he he assumed it roughly corresponded to a centon

"This is Lieutenant Boomer from Battlestar _Galactica. _I'm sorry, sir. I will need permission from my commander to land on the deck of an unknown ship. We are at war. Fighting for our very survival."

"I understand Lieutenant," the translated voice replied. "I'll be sure to mention your dedication to duty when I speak to your commanding officer. Once we have his approval, we'll come back to pick you up if you aren't already there. _Terran Shield_ out."

Perez made a slashing motion across his throat.

"Channel closed," the communications officer reported.

"Can't say as I blame him," Perez mused.

"Could they be at war with the ones who attacked the Endeavor?" Yin wondered.

"Could be, Hong," Perez said. "If they are, we may have found an ally. If it's some other species, I think Command and the UEC would want to remain neutral. No reason to make enemies if we don't need to."

"He said they were fighting for their lives. Surely humanitarian assistance would be in order."

Perez slanted her a glance. "Medical assistance, basic food and sustenance, but anything else, we'd need to get both sides of the story. They may have started this war. We just don't know and we can't afford to jump to conclusions. That's how a lot of wars get started. I'll be damned if I'm going to drag the UEC into a war without a goddamned good reason. Helm, maneuver us so we don't catch them in our pulse wash. Continue to destination, maximum pulse."

* * *

"I thought we were done for sure," Jolly said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"I was tempted to land, but I need to make sure I get these readings to _Galactica_," Boomer told him. "He sounded like a reasonable considerate man. Although what a captain would be doing in command of a ship like that makes me wonder about his superiors."

"Could be they use a different ranking system and a captain for them is equivalent to a commander for us," Jolly put in.

"I just hope it's that," Boomer replied darkly. "To have a middle rank officer in command of a ship like that says they must be either stupid fracks, or desperate. I don't think stupid fracks could build a ship like that. So that would leave desperate."

As they watched, the big ship slid sideways for a bit slightly reorienting its heading and then it began moving impossibly fast. Soon it was a pinprick and then out of sight entirely.

"I hope they really are friendly," Boomer said. "That frackin' thing can _move_."

Jolly was reviewing the scanner. "Looks like some kind of spacial distortion drive. I'm glad they maneuvered like they did before they engaged it. It would have been a rough ride for us if they hadn't."

"Would it have damaged us?"

"No, I don't think so," Jolly replied. "But it would have been like flying through a mild ion storm."

"Score another point for them. They seem to be considerate people. Well, back to base.

* * *

Tigh and Adama were conducting ships business on the bridge of the _Galactica _when Flight Sergeant Rigel called out, "Ship on the scanner. Extreme range. Closing fast. They're at three-quarters light. Recognition codes negative."

"Launch all vipers," Colonel Tigh ordered, glad they had the warning of Boomer's patrol and had the vipers on the rails ready to launch.

"I just hope this is a show of force only," Adama told his X.O. "Fleet resources are approaching critical."

Tigh nodded.

"Send this to the Vipers," Adama ordered. "Do not fire unless fired upon or you receive an attack order from _Galactica_."

"Message sent," Rigel replied.

There was a tense few moments of waiting and then Rigel called out, "They've come to a dead stop. Holding position at one thousand metrics. They appear to be launching fighters." She checked her console again and then, "Wait. What appears to be fighter sized bay doors have opened on their ship, but they've not launched any craft from them."

* * *

_Terran Shield_ was in standard pulse flight at maximum speed. As they got closer, Running Deer reported, "Detecting some two hundred and twenty ships. Most are unarmed or very lightly armed. There is one large ship that appears to be a warship. It has lasers and what appear to be missile tubes and fighter launch systems. It's almost twice our size. Two one man craft that appear to be CAP are in a patrol pattern around the fleet."

"Any life signs, Chief?" Perez asked.

Running Deer nodded. "More than the computer can count. All human. There's in excess of twenty thousand on those ships."

"What?" Rollins couldn't believe it. "Twenty thousand?"

"More than that, Commander. Much more," Running Deer said.

"Bring us to one thousand kilometers from the big ship and hold position there," Perez said. "As soon as we are out of Pulse drive, open fighter launch doors but do not launch without my orders."

"One thousand kilometers, aye," the helmsman said.

"Permission to leave the control room in case we need a magnum launch," Rollins said.

"Permission denied," Perez replied. "I need you at the flight ops station. It's unlikely they will attack us if we don't provoke them. This appears to be a passenger convoy with the big ship flying an escort. Although why they wouldn't have dozens of warships guarding this many of their people during wartime is beyond me. The fact there is only one says they won't go out of their way to pick a fight."

Yin nodded. She agreed with her C.O. She was military through and through, but she despised spilling blood if it could be avoided.

"They're launching fighters," Running Deer said. Then after a moment he exclaimed, "My God. They've put seventy fighters in space. They're holding what looks to be a defensive line fifty kilometers from that fleet. They're just sitting there."

"Helm reading all stop," called out the helmsman.

"Opening fighter launch doors," Rollins reported. "Holding launch per your orders."

"Seventy? Already?" Perez then knew he was facing someone who had a lot more experience in space operations than he or his crew. To launch that many fighters in so short a time spoke of a lot of combat experience.

"Send automated first contact signals," Perez ordered. "Let's give their translators as much to work with as we can."

* * *

"Message coming in," Athena called out. "It's in standard. Looks like it's a database detailing the language. There are some minor differences. Mainly some odd wording and several words I haven't seen before, but it _is_ standard.

Standard? Hope flared through Adama. Maybe these people were from the Thirteenth tribe. Still, he had to be cautious. He was responsible for the lives of so many people and he took that responsibility very seriously.

"Open a channel," Adama ordered.

"Channel open," Athena responsed.

Adama took the communications microphone and spoke into it. "Unknown ship. This is Commander Adama of the Battlestar _Galactica_. Please state your intentions."

After a moment there came a reply. "This is Captain Edward Perez of the Battlecarrier _Terran Shield_. Our intentions are peaceful. We are investigating the destruction of a science vessel by an ship of unknown design. You're ships appear nothing like the aggressor we seek. We would like to open a peaceful dialog."

_Terran Shield?_ Terra was almost sixty light yahrens away. Why would a Terran ship be so far from home?

"_Terran Shield. _You are quite a distance from home. You sent a science ship this far?"

"We aren't that far from our home," came the translated voice. "Just slightly over ten light years."

"I'm sorry, Captain," Adama said. "From the name of your ship, I took your home world to be Terra. Terra is some sixty light yahrens from here. I'm not sure how long a year is, but I assume it's your term for one revolution of your planet around your primary star. That's what a yahren is, but it's an average of all of our planets."

"Yes. That is correct. Three hundred sixty five days. You do use the term day don't you? We use it as the time it takes for our planet to spin 1 full turn on its axis."

"No," Adama responded. "We don't use that term. We would say cycle. And a yahren is three hundred cycles."

Perez grinned. He was thoroughly enjoying this. Of course, he always liked learning new things and it looked like there was learning on both sides here. "I see. Well, the planet Terra you speak of is definitely not the planet we come from. Although our planet is called that, among other names. We would like to send you our visual protocols and establish a two way audio video link."

Adama looked at Tigh. Among other names. Tigh nodded and whispered in his ear, "I think visual communications would be a good idea."

Adama nodded. "Send us your visual protocols and we will establish a link."

Shortly Adama was looking at a middle-aged man wearing some kind of uniform. Adama could tell that he was the commanding officer of that ship because power recognizes power. The man held himself in such a way that he knew he was in charge.

Perez looked at the visage on the viewing screen and nodded. Yes, here was a man who exuded power and authority without letting it go to his head. It was, however, the eyes that impressed him the most. This was someone who had a great deal of responsibility on his shoulders and was used to the weight. This was also someone who had seen unspeakable atrocities.

"Commander Adama. I am Edward Perez. Captain of the battlecarrier _Terran Shield_. I am pleased to make your acquaintance. Although I am mystified how there are humans this far from Terra."

"We are a refugee fleet, Captain. Fleeing from the tyranny of a race of machines that would destroy all living beings."

"A race of machines? Created by you?"

Adama shook his head. "No. Created by a reptilian race known as the Cylons. They destroyed our homeworlds. What you see is all that is left of a once thriving culture. We once numbered more than eighteen billion. We are now down to five hundred thousand."

Perez eyes widened. He now understood the rapid launch; and Adama's eyes. And his respect for this man increased ten fold. To have the responsibility for your entire society on your shoulders? Such a responsibility would break a lesser man.

"So I assume you have a refuge, the location of which would be classified," Perez said. "We wish your people safe journey. But we would like a cultural exchange. A science/survey craft was destroyed in a system approximately ten light years from here by an unknown vessel. Perhaps you have seen these attackers."

Adama nodded. This man obviously understood responsibility and he wanted to trust him, but his responsibility forbade blind trust.

"Can you describe the ship that destroyed your science vessel? Maybe send us what information you have? We seek peaceful coexistence. The Cylons, however, do not share our views."

Perez nodded. In Adama's place he wouldn't trust anyone. "Of course we will send you the data on the Outsiders. That's what my government calls them, for lack of a better name." Perez motioned to the communications operator to send the data.

Adama's eyes widened. "Cylons! That's a Cylon base ship."

Perez's eyes widened in alarm. "Are you sure, Commander?"

Adama nodded slowly. "Oh yes. I'm sure. Those mechanical monstrosities destroyed my world, along with eleven others. Killed my wife, my youngest son. We will send you all the data we have on them." His voice turned hard. "I won't see another world destroyed by these things if I can help it.

"Do not trust them, Captain. There is one among them. One of our people. Baltar is his name. He is charming and persuasive. What he is in actuality, is a traitor to the human race. He collaborated with them, worked with them to devise an offer for peace in a quest for power. We had been at war for a thousand yahrens. We wanted peace so desperately. When they sued for peace we jumped at it. And it was nearly our undoing. The peace conference was a trap. Nine ships just like this one destroyed. They sent thousands upon thousands of raiders to destroy our fleet and our worlds."

Perez was aghast. He looked and all of the crew in the control room, except Hong Yin had tears in their eyes. His XO stared at the screen, her mouth set in a grim line, her eyes spoke of near rage, tightly controlled. He wanted to weep, himself. This man had lost nearly everything. Perez didn't know if he could be as strong as this man if something like it happened to Earth.

"I know this sounds empty, but you have my condolences on the loss of your family and home. We discovered a planet in the star system where our science vessel was destroyed. It would have been our first contact with life forms other than ourselves. The civilization there had been destroyed. Almost a hundred cities. My XO led a landing party and reported some of the people she found looked like they had been killed with a hacking weapon, others by laser burn."

"So they destroyed another civilization," Adama said sadly.

"It appears so, sir.

"We will give you whatever technical information we can on the Cylons. We are trying to find the planet our thirteenth tribe set out for at the same time we set out for our twelve worlds, but we cannot allow these Cylons to destroy another civilization while we sit back in safety."

"Do you have any idea where this planet is? We can perhaps escort you there and lend our firepower to yours in case these Cylons attack.

"As I told you, we come from twelve tribes that settled on twelve worlds. Our thirteenth tribe left our original home world at about the same time as the twelve tribes did. According to our ancient writings, they set course for a planet called Earth."

* * *

A/N: Well, that's it for this chapter, and a cliff hanger to boot. Don't forget to review.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Here is the next chapter and it's a good long one. It's the last fully written chapter I have to date so it will probably be a bit before the next chapter comes out. This is a minor rewrite. It concerns the second meeting of Perez and the commanding admiral. Somehow a sentence got dropped somehow. Reviews are appreciated and missed when absent.

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica is copyrighted to Glen Larson and Universal Pictures. This is fan fiction which garners _**NO MONEY OR OTHER MATERIAL COMPENSATION WHATSOEVER**_ for the author of this work.

Chapter Five

Perez eyes bugged out. Earth? He looked at Yin.

She was nodding. _Very possible, _she mouthed silently.

Perez had noticed that the commander wore a broach that had a design on it that looked familiar.

"The device you wear at your neck has a design that looks familiar, Commander.

"You mean this?" Adama said, touching his seal.

Perez nodded.

"It's the Seal of the Caprica tribe. I am the Seal holder."

Perez's eyes widened. Caprica? "That's familiar as well, sir. Does Taurus, Libra, Scorpio sound familiar?"

"Those are the ancient names of three of our tribes. The ancient name of my own tribe, Caprica is Capricorn."

"Commander, we have a word. Zodiac. Does that mean anything to you?

Adama's eyes widened. "That is a word from our ancient language. It means sky, or sometimes heavens."

"Commander, that word to us means a collection of twelve star patterns in our night sky. The names of those star patterns are, among others, Capricorn, Taurus, Libra, Scorpio. I think the others might match the ancient names of the rest of your tribes. I think it is very possible that our ancestors, or maybe some of them, are your thirteenth tribe. Our world is sometimes called Terra but it's official name is Earth. However we call it Terra because the original name for humans from Earth was Earthlings. We prefer Terrans."

Adama's eyes widened. Earth? He sincerely hoped that they had finally, at long last, found their haven. The people needed to settle somewhere. If they could be reunited with the descendents of the thirteenth tribe, so much the better.

"What is so wrong with 'Earthling'?" Adama asked. "It doesn't sound offensive to me."

"It holds the connotation of primitive, for us. It probably comes from our entertainment broadcasts. Right or wrong, we are Terrans, not Earthlings."

Adama nodded. No one wanted to appear primitive or weak, even to themselves. "I actually do understand, sir. There are beliefs among some of our tribes that I have trouble understanding. I'm sure they have trouble understanding some of Caprica's. What matters is we are all human. I rejoice in finally meeting the descendants of the thirteenth tribe. It appears you aren't as advanced, technically, as we are, but you most likely have material resources we lack."

Perez was becoming a bit uneasy. This seemed too easy. Adama was too reasonable. He was waiting for the other shoe to drop. What he didn't realize was, that he was dealing with someone from an advanced culture. Advanced both technically and socially. And that Adama was a man of principles and knew that doing the right thing wasn't always easy.

"So you are saying you would share your technology with us in return for material resources?" Perez asked a bit skeptically.

"There's more than that," Adama admitted. "We need a home for our people. Sharing our technology would make it easier for our people to integrate with the population of Earth. Tell me, Captain, is Earth a united planet? Or do you still have nation states?" This was a major factor in Adama's mind. If they still had nations that fought over territorial disputes, he wasn't sure they were ready for Colonial technology.

"Yes, sir. We are united. We have established the United Earth Confederation. There are two hundred and eight provinces. These provinces used to be nations, but we are now one government. All Provinces send a representative to the General Assembly to represent them in Confederation affairs."

Adama nodded. This was good. Two hundred and eight different tribes on one planet, though, was a surprise.

"Two hundred and eight? It seems you are very diverse."

Perez nodded. "And many of the provinces have their own language; some share a language. But most speak Standard as well. The Confederation encourages it's citizens to be multi-lingual."

Adama nodded. "We have faster than light capability, but most of our ships are limited to no more than five times the speed of light. They were mainly interplanetary luxury liners, cargo ships and such. The Galactica can travel at one hundred times the speed of light, but we must move at the speed of the slowest ship. It would seem that it would take more than two years to travel to Earth. We don't have enough fuel. Of course there are systems between here and there, but there is no guarantee we would find tylium we could refine."

This was something that was bothering Perez. If they were to help these people, they would have to give them hyperfold technology. He wasn't too sure how Command and the UEC would feel about that.

"We discovered the hyperfold from downed alien craft. We have no idea who they were as our linguists were not able to decipher their language. It took us seventeen years to finally discover how the drive system worked. The written language seems to be random symbols. I'm really not too sure how my government would feel about sharing the hyperfold technology. I want to help you, of course, but I must answer to my superiors."

Adama nodded. Here was a man who knew how to walk the fine line between politics and doing what was right.

"I completely understand, Captain," Adama replied. "I must also answer to our Council of the Twelve. I have a proposition. We will share our manufacturing methods in exchange for your hyperfold."

"That sounds reasonable, sir, but I'm afraid our government might want some weapons technology."

Adama shook his head. "No. I'm sorry. That is out of the question until we know each other much better than we do now."

"I'd like to talk to my superiors. We are close enough that our hyper radio will allow two way communication with our base."

"I understand," Adama said. "I will also need to speak to our Council. I will contact you at this time tomorrow. We would appreciate you launching a perimeter patrol. Eight eyes are better than four."

Perez grinned. "Yes sir. We'll be launching two fighter craft very shortly. _Terran Shield _out."

Perez motioned to terminate the link and the screen went dark.

"Launch CAP."

"CAP launched," Yin reported.

"Mr. Reed. Get me a secure channel to Command. I'll take it in my quarters."

"Yes sir," The petty officer replied.

* * *

Ninety minutes later, Perez sat looking at the visage of Admiral Ferdinand over the comm screen. Perez had briefed the admiral on what he had found.

"I don't know about this, Captain. While it is nice to put a name on our adversary, I don't see as it matters." He shrugged. "Cylons or the Outsiders. It really makes no difference what you call them. Also while I'm very disturbed that these beings, machines or whatever would destroy civilizations, I'm not sure we can accommodate these colonials."

"They have offered their manufacturing methods in exchange for hyperfold technology. This Commander Adama seems like a very reasonable person. I do know this. This man has seen atrocities. It's hard not to feel for them."

Ferdinand shook his head. "You don't understand, Captain. I do feel for them. But if we are going to defend ourselves against these Cylons, we must have better weapons."

"I'm sure that will come in time, Admiral," Perez said, "but right now they aren't willing to trade weapons technology. Be honest. Would we be in such a situation? We don't know them, they don't know us. It is unreasonable to expect them to give us weapons technology until we are much better acquainted."

Ferdinand sighed. "You are correct of course, but it is also unreasonable for them to expect us to welcome them with open arms until we achieve that understanding you speak of.

Perez nodded. "How about this then. We let them settle, temporarily, on Mars. They should be able to build communities fairly quickly."

Ferdinand rubbed his jaw, thinking. "We do have a colony there. But only one. Perhaps near the equator on the opposite side of the planet from Lowell. I'll have to get it by the committee on foreign relations. But with the promise of advanced technology, that shouldn't be insurmountable."

"Well, they are going to need the hyperfold to get to Sol in a reasonable length of time."

"I think we can share the fold in exchange for advanced manufacturing methods," the admiral allowed. "The problem is they are going to need to fit two hundred and twenty ships. That's a lot of material. The most important component, tri-cobalt, is extremely rare in the Sol System. We can give them the specifications and plans. If they can obtain the material, it shouldn't be a problem."

"Right now, Admiral, I think they are more in need of fuel than anything. This tylium they use is rather uncommon."

"What about food and medical supplies?" the admiral asked.

"Well, they grow their food in agricultural ships. I assume they manufacture medicines from by-products of this. As for their medical instrumentation, I really have no idea, but Adama didn't seem worried about it. He didn't even mention it."

"I'll get back to you as soon as I can, Captain. I need to get the ball rolling on this."

"Yes, sir," Perez replied. "I'll be here. _Terran Shield_ out." He pressed a button and terminated the connection.

Perez was on the bridge at 1300 the next day when Mark Culpepper said, "Receiving message from Galactica. Audio/Visual."

"On screen," Perez ordered.

Adama appeared on the screen. "Captain. I've spoken to our council and they are very pleased. They agree to the trade of the hyperfold for advanced manufacturing methods."

Perez smiled. "That's good news. I wish I had news as good to report, but I am still waiting for word back from my superiors."

"Were there any problems, sir?" Adama wanted to know.

"Not really. My admiral did understand that you wouldn't want to share weapons technology until we were much better acquainted, but he also has concerns about you settling on Earth until such time as we know you better."

Adama nodded. He had expected such caution.

"However," Perez continued. "He did agree that it might be possible for your people to settle, temporarily, on our fourth planet. A planet we call Mars. We've terraformed it and it is suitable for life. A bit chilly, but not too bad. Of course on earth there are climes that are frigid where people live."

Adama nodded. "So when do you expect to hear back?"

"I'm not really sure, Commander. It will have to go before our foreign relations committee. Also if they do agree to trade hyperfold technology, it will be the plans and specifications only. Fitting two hundred and twenty ships is going to take quite a bit of material, some of which we just don't have."

"What is the material you lack?" Adama wanted to know.

"Tri-Cobalt," Perez replied.

Adama smiled at this. "This is very fortuitous. We know how to make tri-cobalt. We usually use it for ordinance. However there are other uses. Housing high energy plasma reactions is one."

Perez nodded. "Exactly what it would be used for in the hyperfold. The reaction is encased in a tri-cobalt housing."

"Very fortuitous indeed. While tri-cobalt does occur naturally, it is rather rare. The making of it would be one of the manufacturing methods included in the trade."

"But I thought you said you use it primarily for ordinance. Wouldn't that be weapons technology?" Perez wanted to know.

"Not really," Adama returned. "We would be giving you the methods to manufacture naturally occurring tri-cobalt. Manufacturing weapons grade Tri-Cobalt, however would not be included. Nor what other components are needed or how they fit together. Also, weapons grade tri-cobalt is not found naturally."

Perez nodded. This seemed reasonable.

"I'll contact you at this time tomorrow, Commander," Perez told him. "Unless I receive word from my superiors. Then I'll contact you as soon as I know anything."

Adama nodded. "Understand. Galactica out.

* * *

The next day at 10:30 the word came. And the United Earth Confederation declared war upon the Cylons.

"Good news, Captain," Admiral Ferdinand told him through the comm screen. "The committee on Foreign relations felt that a full vote of the assembly was required and they approved the trade of Hyperfold for advanced manufacturing techniques."

"In just _one_ _day?_" Perez was incredulous. The General Assembly was notorious for it's plodding deliberation.

"They were appalled, absolutely appalled at the murder of more than seventeen billion people. And outraged. I was in the gallery during that session. When they saw the footage you sent us of the attack, some assembly-persons were in tears. The member from Russia looked mad as hell. He proposed that Cylons should be 'destroy on sight'. Both measures passed unanimously without debate."

Perez stared at the viewer with his mouth hanging open. 'Destroy on sight?' Then he found his voice. "What about the colonials settling on Mars?"

"That was approved as a part of the first vote. We will be sending an ambassador. We want to get to know these people."

Perez chuckled. "In other words, the UEC wants their weapons technology." He was amazed, however, that the Assembly had agreed to 'destroy on sight'.

"There is that," Ferdinand conceded. "But we'd also like their take on the race that built and designed the Fold. According to your report, their translation technology appears to be much better than ours. Maybe they'll be able to tell us who these people were and what they were doing here."

"There's something else, Admiral. They will have no problem fitting the fold to their ships. They know how to make tri-cobalt."

"Ferdinand's mouth fell open. "What? You have got to be shitting me, Captain."

"That's what Adama tells me. They won't give us the technique to make weapons grade tri-cobalt yet, of course, but the naturally occurring substance they use for the same purpose it's used in the Fold. They know how to manufacture it and when the trade is completed, we will too."

"Looks like we'll be getting the better end of this bargain," Ferdinand observed.

"I don't know, sir. Depends on your perspective. They've been cooped up in those ships for almost fifteen years. Having open sky over you sounds like a boon after that."

Ferdinand nodded. "Well, it doesn't matter. We are each getting what we want. Doesn't matter who gets the better deal. We'll think we are, they'll think they are and everyone's happy."

Perez nodded. Ferdinand had always been the consummate diplomat. He looked at problems from all angles. Which was why he had been promoted to the Admiralty and then Commanding Admiral of the Navy. He could have easily had an ambassadorship, but he liked the military and was frankly afraid that some zealots would shoot first and ask questions later. That wouldn't happen while Marco Ferdinand commanded the UEC Navy. That wasone of the reasons Perez was so surprised about the 'destroy on sight' resolution. Ferdinand _couldn't _have been happy about it.

"I have new orders for you," Ferdinand told him. Perez noticed that Ferdinand's eyes _were_ troubled. "We are sending three ships. Two are brimming with food and supplies. They'll be leaving within twelve hours. The supplies on these ships are a gift from the UEC. You are hereby promoted to Rear Admiral Second Class and have operational command of all UEC forces in the area. That's in addition to your duties as commanding officer of _Terran Shield_. You will retain flag command until such time as these colonists are settled on Mars."

"Rear Admiral?" Perez couldn't believe it. "I appreciate the promotion, but I don't see how it's necessary."

"It's necessary," Ferdinand informed him, "because there will be three captains in the area besides yourself. It is not good for morale to have a Captain in command of a fleet. You would of course be SOPA, in any event, but this adds weight to it, and to be honest, you were up for Admiral anyway. This gives me a good reason to force the issue."

"Yes sir. However, as flag commander of this fleet, I'm not sure it would be advisable to divide my attention. I would like to offer promotion and command of _Terran Shield_ to Commander Yin."

Ferdinand smiled. Perez thought on his feet and this suggestion confirmed his faith in the new Admiral. "Is that your official recommendation, Admiral?" Ferdinand asked him.

"Yes sir. Hong Yin knows how to take orders and she knows how to give them. In the short time I've known her,she has never shown me anything other than rock solid responsibility. I read her service jacket and her record is exemplary. She should have had a captaincy already. Holding her back is not in the best interest of either her or the service."

Ferdinand nodded. "Very well. Offer her the Captaincy and promotion. You, however, still retain flag command. We will be sending an Ambassador on one of the ships, The _Alexandria. _He has our formal proposal and he has the authority to alter it if the need arises in the negotiations."

"I understand, Admiral," Perez acknowledged. "You said two of the three ships have supplies. What about the third?"

* * *

Perez shook his head as he remembered his conversation with Ferdinand concerning the third ship. The UEC wasn't taking any chances. No quarter, no warning. Fire first and don't worry about asking questions. Ferdinand had voiced his displeasure over that part of the resolution. He was not at all happy.

His door chime rang. "Enter," he called out.

Hong Yin entered.

"Commander Yin reporting as ordered, sir." Suddenly she noticed his rank insignia and her back went ramrod straight. "Admiral! Congratulations on your promotion." She saluted crisply.

Perez returned the salute. "That's the last time you have to do that when we are in private."

"Yes sir."

""Sit down, Hong." She did. Continuing, Perez said, "I've read your service record and it shows someone of command caliber. Why aren't you a captain?"

"It seemed there were always officers more qualified than myself, sir. Or maybe some of them had more seniority than me."

Perez nodded. "Well, not in this case. As you can see, I've been promoted to Rear Admiral second class. There are three ships that will be here within the day, one of which, is carrying an ambassador. I have been assigned flag command of this fleet. While I could continue to command _Terran Shield, _dividing my attention would be unwarranted when there is an officer of your caliber that's qualified to command this ship.

"Commander Hong Yin, on my recommendation, the UEC Navy extends to you the offer to become the commanding officer of the _Terran Shield _and promotion to the rank of Captain._"_

Yin was stunned and her face showed it. "You want to give me command of your ship?"

"Vessel command," Perez reminded her. "I will still retain flag command, and this will be my flagship. You'll command _Terran Shield_. I'll command the mission."

"I accept command, sir. I will personally see that your faith in me is not misplaced."

Perez smiled. "Of that, I'm sure. We have new orders. Two of the ships en route carry supplies for the colonial fleet. The third is carrying two hundred Annihilator missiles for us."

Yin's eyes widened. That was anti-matter ordinance. "Are we at war, Admiral?"

"In effect, yes. Your orders are to destroy any Cylon vessel encountered. No warning or quarter will be given. You are not to allow them the first shot. Destroy on sight. Is that clear, Captain?"

"Yes sir," Captain Yin replied crisply. "No offense is intended sir, but I must confirm those orders with command as they appear to be unlawful."

Perez pressed a button. "Perez to Control Room. Contact command, Priority Alpha Alpha. Tell them the commanding officer of Terran Shield needs to speak to command regarding confirmation of orders."

"Yes sir," came the reply. "At once sir. "

"I must say, Hong. I'm very pleased. I agree those orders appear unlawful. I'll let Admiral Ferdinand explain."

Shortly Admiral Ferdinand came on the screen. "Captain Yin. I understand you require confirmation of your orders concerning the Cylons?"

"Yes sir," Yin replied. "No warning? We are to fire first and not give them any quarter or warning at all?"

"That is correct, Captain. You are to destroy them on sight. This comes directly from the General Assembly. However, you are to accept an unconditional surrender as such and send a marine boarding party And once they report all secure, a prize crew. If they request terms of surrender, we will accept nothing less than their unconditional surrender. You are also to jam their communications. If they do surrender and you subsequently have reasonable cause to suspect duplicity, you are not only authorized, you are ordered to destroy them without any warning whatsoever. The General Assembly has declared these Cylons to be a grave threat to humanity. If encountered, they must _not_ be allowed to communicate with possible reinforcements or their headquarters. This goes against the grain, but I didn't earn command of the Navy by questioning the orders and resolutions of the General Assembly. And in this case, I'm sorry to say, they are right in doing this. Those machines must be stopped at all costs."

"You realize I must authenticate in order to accept these orders, Admiral." It was not a question.

Ferdinand nodded. "Proceed, Captain."

She removed a pad from it's pouch on her belt. Consulting it she said, "Please authenticate Whiskey November."

"I authenticate Whiskey November," Ferdinand replied. "Authentication Delta."

Yin nodded. "Please authenticate Romeo Tango."

"I authenticate Romeo Tango. Authentication Hotel."

"Please authenticate one one three seven niner seven four," Yin challenged.

"I authenticate one one three seven niner seven four. Authentication three eight four seven two niner niner five niner zero two."

Yin nodded. "Authentication correct. Orders accepted and will be implemented, Admiral."

"You are a credit to the service Captain Yin," Ferdinand told her. "I would have been very disappointed had you accepted these orders without confirming. Admiral Perez was right to recommend you. Anything further?"

Yin shook her head. "No sir."

"Command out." The screen went dark.

"There will be a change of command ceremony on the hangar deck at eighteen hundred," Perez told her.

"Yes sir."

"Oh and by the way," Perez said with a smile. He held out a small open box containing Captain's insignia, "You're out of uniform, Captain. I suggest you remedy that immediately."

* * *

Yin stepped into the control room the next morning at 0400. The officer of the deck saluted and said, "All is in order, captain. We are scanning the system looking for any indication of Cylon incursion. All clear and quiet."

Yin nodded. "Sound General Quarters, no drill statement. All hands to battle stations. Condition Alpha in five minutes."

The OOD, Ensign Culpepper stared at her. "Ma'am? General Quarters? We haven't detected any Cylons."

"Did I ask that?" Yin asked sharply. "I gave you a direct order, Ensign."

"Ye.. Yes Ma'am." He hit the alarm. The Klaxon began sounding. "General Quarters, General Quarters. All hands to battle stations. Condition Alpha will be set in five minutes. General Quarters, General Quarters. All hands to battle stations. Condition Alpha will be set in Five minutes. All decks report readiness. Now General Quarters."

Organized confusion reigned while people entered at the run and others left with the same haste as they were relieved.

"Receiving message from Galactica," Reed said. "They are asking why we have armed weapons and launch systems."

"Send message text only. We are engaged in a battle readiness drill. We will contact you later.' Sign it with my name and send it."

Yes, sir," Reed answered.

"All decks report ready. All hands at battle stations," Culpepper reported.

Yin looked at her stopwatch then thumbed the ship-wide. "This is the Captain. That was slow, people, way too slow. Six minutes, ten seconds. I expect better the next time. And there will be a next time. Everyone should be at their assigned battle stations within five minutes of the alert. Commander Rollins, report to the Captain's quarters immediately. Stand down from General Quarters. Captain out."

She looked at Culpepper. "You have the Control Room. I'll be in my quarters."

* * *

Perez was waiting outside of Yin's quarters when she arrived. "Mind if I sit in on your little chat with the Air Boss, Captain?"

"So long as you don't interfere, Admiral, as I intend to take him to task for the slow response."

"I wouldn't dream of it, Captain. Six minutes is way too slow when Alpha is to be set in five."

Yin was behind her desk and Perez was lounging on a couch when the door chime sounded.

"Enter," Yin called.

"Commander Rollins, reporting as ordered, Ma'am," Rollins said saluting.

Yin returned the salute. "At ease, Commander. Sit down."

He did and looked over at Perez. Perez just smiled and shook his head.

"Would you mind explaining what took so long for your department to be ready?" Yin asked. "I show the magnum launch took six minutes to be ready to fly."

"I tender no excuse, Ma'am."

"I didn't ask for an excuse. I asked why it took so long. I want the reason."

"My pilots were dead asleep, Ma'am. It was four in the morning. That's no excuse. That's the reason."

"That's your reason? Your people were asleep? Do you think the Cylons will care if they are asleep or not. They'll do everything they can to make sure they stay asleep. Forever!" Yin gave him a hard look. "You make sure your pilots know that this is not a game. This is for all the marbles. These Cylons are hostile and want to destroy all organic life. I expect better the next time."

Rollins looked at Perez for help. "Don't look to him," Yin said. "I command this ship now. And while I command, this ship will be ready for combat at five minutes notice. I realize shit rolls down hill, so I suggest you talk to your pilots and get their asses in gear. Dismissed."

Rollins stood and saluted crisply. "Yes, Ma'am." When she returned the salute, he spun on his heel and was out the door.

Yin looked at Perez. "So I assume you're going to tell me I was too hard on him."

Perez shook his head. "Not at all, Hong. You were actually easier on him than I would have been. Friend or not, he is the CAG and is therefore responsible for seeing that the pilots are ready to fly at a moment's notice. I can only assume he was caught off guard as he is one of the best. I would be very surprised if it happens again. And at the next drill, I'd wager that we'll be ready for a magnum launch in less than five minutes."

"I hope so, Admiral," Yin said. "Or I'll have him and his pilots scrubbing the hangar deck with tooth brushes."

* * *

Later that day, Rollins was having breakfast with the Admiral. Rank didn't matter to them. They were still best friends.

"Man! Why did you let her tear into me that way, Wetback?"

"Because you deserved it, my friend," Perez told him. "Six minutes? That's way too slow and you know it. You think she was tough on you? You don't want to know what I would have done."

"You always were a hard ass, Ed."

Perez nodded. "When I have to be. And right now we all have to be. You saw the feed from their news service. Those metal butchers slaughtered more than seventeen billion people. How long do you think they'd hesitate before they'd do the same to the UEC?"

Rollins nodded. "Well, she caught me off guard, this time. It won't happen again. That I can promise you."

"You're a smart man, my friend," Perez told him. "I've been told Galactica called wanting to know why we powered weapons and launch systems. I need to talk to Adama and let him know what's going on."

"I just find it hard to believe you're an Admiral, Ed."

Perez shook his head. "You find it hard to believe. I sometimes think I'm in a bad dream. Well, no rest for the weary. I need to make that call and you need to talk to your pilots. Feel free to be as hard on them as she was on you."

Rollins shook his head ruefully. "They'll get an ear full, that I guarantee."

* * *

Well, that's it for this chapter. Don't forget to review.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Welcome back. Here is the next chapter

A reviewer suggested removing the shield technology from the Battle Carrier. In the first draft, there was no defensive energy shield for the carrier or fighters, but as the story developed, it became clear that they were needed. The Terrans have antimatter ordinance. Force field technology is a necessary prerequisite for antimatter technology. The antimatter itself must be kept from coming in contact with normal matter prior to detonation. The only way I know of to do that is with a neutral force field.

So. They have force fields. I next had to ask myself, why would a space faring military deprive their front line fighters a defensive technology that is a by-product of weapons research. The answer is, they wouldn't. So the fighters had to have shields. Next question is why wouldn't they adapt this to their ships of the line. The answer, again, is they would if they could. As you will see in this chapter, the Terrans have had antimatter for at least forty years, so they had to have had force field technology longer than that. That's enough time to develop a shield envelope. The bigger the ship, the weaker it would be. More area to cover. But it would be there.

Reviews are appreciated and missed when absent

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica is the property of and copyrighted to Glen Larson and Universal Pictures. This is fan fiction which garners _**NO MONEY OR OTHER MATERIAL COMPENSATION WHATSOEVER**_ for the author of this work.

Chapter Six

Adama was on the Bridge of the _Galactica_ performing routine administration tasks. It always amazed him how much traffic the fleet generated that required his signature. They had yet to hear back from _Terran Shield_ except for a cryptic, "We will contact you shortly."

Athena had just arrived for her watch and had just settled in when she noticed some unusual energy signatures from the Earth ship.

"Commander, _Terran Shield_ is powering weapons. They appear to be going to a state of heightened alert."

"Any sign of ships on long range?"

"No sir," Athena replied. "But they are definitely charging weapons. Looks like they are powering their fighter launch tubes as well."

"Are we being targeted?" Adama was becoming concerned.

"No sir. No active scanning beams directed toward the fleet."

"Contact them," Adama ordered.

"Yes sir," Athena replied. Then she looked relieved. "They are conducting a battle preparation drill, sir. Message is text only, signed by Captain Yin."

"Yin?" This was not good. "They've had a change of command."

"It appears so, sir," she said. "They are no longer responding. Their launch bay doors are opening."

They waited for several long centons, then Athena reported, "Weapons powering down. Launch doors closing. Looks like their drill is complete."

Adama nodded. "Contact them. Tell them I want to speak to their Captain."

"Yes sir." Athena worked the communications controls, spoke into the microphone and then frowned at the response. "Sir. They say Captain Yin will contact us shortly. She is busy in analyzing the drill."

Adama nodded. Well, they would just have to wait and see. He would give them one centaur and then he would contact them again. He didn't want to seem impatient but he had the lives of half a million people he was responsible for. He needed information.

Almost a centaur later, Athena spoke up. "Sir, we are being contacted by _Terran Shield_. Admiral Perez would like to speak to you."

"Admiral? What in the name of the Lords of Kobol is an admiral? Never mind, Athena. Put him on."

The communications screen lit to show Perez. He was wearing a different uniform with different collar insignia since the last time he had spoken to Adama.

"Commander Adama. I'm sorry it took so long to get back to you."

"I understand, sir," Adama replied. "Commanding a ship is a lot of work."

Perez nodded. "Yes sir. But I no longer command _Terran Shield._ My first officer, Hong Yin has been promoted to Captain and given command."

"Are your superiors displeased with your performance?" If that was the case, Adama intended to give them a piece of his mind.

Perez smiled. "Not at all sir. I have been promoted to Rear Admiral Second Class. There are three ships enroute. Two carry supplies for your fleet. These supplies are an outright gift. An ambassador is aboard one of the ships. While Captain Yin will command _Terran Shield,_ I will command the UEC fleet."

"An ambassador?" Adama was relieved. If they were sending an ambassador, then they were serious about negotiations. "That is very good. I'm glad that you will be in overall command, sir. I've come to trust you. So the trade has been approved.

"Yes sir. The trade of manufacturing methods for the Hyperfold has been approved. The ambassador is coming with our proposal and the authority to alter if if need be. I've been given the authority to tell you that you may settle on our fourth planet temporarily until we can establish a trust. When that happens, who knows."

"You said three ships are coming. Two with supplies for us. What about the third?"

Perez looked grave. "That ship is carrying ordinance for _Terran Shield._ Our general assembly was very impressed by your news footage and the destruction of the civilization in Epsilon Eridani. We have orders to engage and destroy any Cylon ship we encounter. No warning, no quarter."

Adama's eyes widened. "They believed us?"

"They believed what they saw. And my report of the destruction of the Rotroka civilization. They have deemed the Cylons a grave threat to humanity."

"That they are, sir. And not just humanity. To all organic intelligent life. So I take it that was the reason for the battle preparation drill?"

Perez nodded. "Yes. And Yin was not at all happy by the performance. It took too long. There will be others.

"I understand, Admiral. May I request to be notified before any future battle drills? I was very concerned when I was informed your ship was powering weapons. The fact we weren't being targeted did a lot to relieve our fears, but it was still rather stressful. Especially as I am responsible for a half a million lives."

Perez cursed under his breath. "I'm very sorry about that, Commander. I will personally see that you get warning beforehand from now on. Might not be much, but you will have warning."

"Thank you. I hesitated to do this before seeing you were the commanding officer, but I would now like to invite you to visit the _Galactica._

"I would be honored, Commander. I'm curious, why wouldn't you invite me when I was the commanding officer of _Terran Shield_?"

"The commanding officer should not leave his vessel in a potential crisis situation," Adama replied.

Perez nodded. This man did indeed understand command. "Just as well. I would have refused. What you say is correct. In any event, I accept your offer. I'd like to come alone, but I doubt Captain Yin will permit it."

"How could she stop you? You are her superior, are you not?"

Perez nodded. "That I am, but I am also an admiral, which is what we call a flag officer. Our regulations do not allow flag officers to travel to potentially hostile locations without a security escort. While I don't consider your vessel to be potentially hostile, since we don't have a formal alliance, she would."

"She sounds like any good first officer," Adama chuckled. "Mine, Colonel Tigh, worries like a mother daggit when I go down to a planet even with an escort."

Perez didn't know what a daggit was, but he assumed it was a domesticated animal. "Well, I appreciate your invitation. I'll be over in two hours."

"I look forward to it," Adama told him. "I'll see you then."

* * *

Captain Yin's door chime sounded. "Enter," she called.

Perez walked in and she stood. "Sit down, Hong. This is your office. I just wanted to let you know that Adama invited me to visit Galactica. I accepted."

"I'll assign two marines as security escort. And I want your shuttle to have a full honor escort."

"Do I really need six fighters escorting me over there?"

Yin nodded. "It's a show of how much you are valued. You command this fleet. Something happens to you and it falls to me. I have enough on my plate without having to command a fleet as well."

Perez nodded. He also understood what she didn't say. If something happened to him, she would have to answer to command. "One more thing, Hong. The next time you call a surprise GQ drill, make sure that Galactica knows about it. You don't have to give them much warning. Just give them a bit so they don't worry."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Admiral?"

Perez nodded. "Yes. Adama is responsible for the safety of half a million people. We charge weapons and launch systems, he's going to worry if he doesn't know why. I see no need to make him worry unnecessarily."

"Yes, sir," Yin replied. "Understood."

* * *

The two armed marines stepped out of the shuttle to an honor guard. The senior marine nodded. Yes, These people knew how to greet a dignitary. He was still not letting down his guard as the Admiral's safety was his prime responsibility, but he detected no threats. He did see soldiers, what these people called warriors, and they did wear sidearms, but he would have though them fools if they had been unarmed. They had their commander to protect as well.

"All secure, Admiral," he called through the open doorway.

Perez emerged from the doorway and stepped onto the deck of the Galactica.

Adama stepped up. He extended his hand to shake. Perez took his hand and shook it.

"It's good to finally meet you in person, Admiral," Adama said.

"Likewise, sir. Looks like there is security on both sides."

"I actually understand your Captain Yin. There is no way my warriors would let me meet the representative of a foreign government without some kind of protection. Now, let me show you the hospitality of my ship."

* * *

Perez was still shaking his head as he sat at the bar in the recreation station. This was one _hell_ of a ship.

"Would you like something to drink, Admiral?" Adama asked.

"That sounds perfect."

"Two ambrosias," Adama told the attendant.

Shortly, there were two large mugs of amber liquid placed in front of the two men.

Adama raised his mug and said, "Here's to our alliance."

Perez picked up his, touched glasses with Adama's and drank. It tasted like beer with honey. It was actually quite good. Perez liked it.

Suddenly a Klaxon began sounding and warriors were running for the exits.

* * *

"Cylon base ship detected. All pilots to your ships. Alert stations, Alert stations. All hands man your alert station. Commander Adama to the bridge."

Captain Yin had just finished updating her log when 2nd class petty officer Robert Grimes, the scanner operator on duty called out, "Ship just appeared on scanners. Thirty million clicks. Implementing recognition routines." After a short pause he paled and then said, "ship reads as a Cylon base ship. Moving toward us at one quarter light."

"Sound General Quarters," Yin ordered. The alert klaxon began sounding. Lieutenant Knight spoke over the intraship.

"General Quarters, General Quarters, all hands man your battle stations. This is not a drill. General Quarters, General Quarter, all hands man your battle stations. This is not a drill. Condition Alpha will be set in five minutes. All decks acknowledge. Now General Quarters.

"Send this to Galactica. Cylon base ship detected. We are responding."

"Message sent," reported Ensign Culpepper.

"Jam all short and long range communications frequencies. I believe we have four annihilators on board, is that correct, Mr. Whyte?"

"Yes, ma'am," responded the navigator.

"Weapons, arm two and prepare them for launch. Have the other two on hot standby."

"Arm two and prepare for launch. Other two to hot standby. Aye."

"Short and long range comm frequencies jammed."

"Intercept course with the enemy ship, helm, Tactical, target the Cylon." Yin ordered. "Bring us to five hundred kilometers and disengage pulse drive. As soon as we have all stop, fire both annihilators and then engage fold for a two AU jump along the plus Z axis."

"Plotting fold jump as specified," Whyte responded. "I'm glad we kept the fold on warm standby. It will be charged and ready in one minute."

"Targeting Cylon vessel," Knight reported. "All decks now report ready. Commander Rollins is requesting clearance for the Magnum Launch."

Yin thumbed the com line to the CAG. "Not yet Commander. Stand by."

As a matter of course, Yin checked the readiness time. Four minutes thirty seven seconds. She nodded, pleased at the response time.

"Fold jump plotted and on the board," the Navigator reported.

"Helm, engage pulse on intercept course. Maximum speed."

"Engaging pulse drive. Estimating one minute fifty five seconds to specified intercept."

* * *

Adama ran for the Bridge. Perez was right behind him. They emerged on the bridge and Adama called out, "Status?"

"One Cylon base ship appeared thirty million microns distant," Tigh reported. "_Terran Shield_ is powering weapons and launch systems. Message from them as follows. 'Cylon base ship detected. We are responding.' They are now jamming communications both short and long range. It also appears they are arming two warheads. I've never seen anything like them. They don't seem real somehow."

Adama turned to Perez.

"They are what we call annihilator missiles. The _Shield_ is currently carrying four of them. They are antimatter weapons."

"Antimatter?" Tigh questioned. "What's that?"

"It's matter that has a reverse charge. Electrons in the nucleus with positrons orbiting."

Adama had never heard of such. "Is that even possible?" he asked.

Perez nodded. "Yes. When matter and antimatter come into contact with one another, they cancel each other out. Violently. They release all the energy stored in each."

Colonel Tigh paled visibly, which was a feat for a man with skin so dark. "That would be more powerful than a solium enriched warhead," he said in wonder.

"Why would you need our weapons technology if you have weapons this powerful," Adama wanted to know.

"It is very difficult and time consuming to manufacture antimatter," Perez explained. "One of the ships that's on its way here has one hundred of these missiles for us. This is more than ninety five percent of our current inventory and it took us forty years to manufacture enough antimatter for that many missiles."

"Sir, the Earth ship is moving off at three quarters light. They are on an intercept course with the Cylons."

"Send them a message," Adama ordered. "One of those missiles should be enough to destroy a base ship. No need to fire two when one would be sufficient if they are that valuable."

"I recommend against that, Commander," Perez said. "She won't listen anyway. She will launch two to make sure she gets one good strike. One could be shot down. The missiles are designed to use evasive maneuvering but one could still be hit. Two almost assure a successful strike."

"You know your officer," Adama allowed. "Belay the message."

* * *

The fighter wings of Galactica had launched and been ordered to form a defensive line fifty microns from Galactica until further notice.

"Why do they get all the fun?" Starbuck groused.

"Just be thankful that they are," Boomer piped up. "I've seen how that frackin' thing can move and trust me, it can."

"Relax, Starbuck," Apollo advised. "They've never taken down a Cylon. We have. Give them a chance to get their feet wet."

"I'm just itching to take out some more of those tin heads," Starbuck said.

Suddenly there was a dim flash in the distance followed approximately fifteen microns later by a much larger flash.

"What just happened, Apollo?" Starbuck wanted to know. "Why were there two flashes?"

"I think I know," Boomer chimed in. "The first was most likely the Earth ship engaging their hyperdrive after firing. The second one was most likely the Cylon. Although how they could destroy a Cylon with one shot is beyond me. Maybe they needed to vacate the vicinity faster than normal space would allow."

* * *

"Dropping out of Pulse drive," reported the helm. Then shortly, "Now reading all stop."

"Two annihilators away," Lieutenant Knight reported. "Engaging hyperfold."

"Fold translation successful," Reported Reed. "Exterior camera activated. Activating viewer."

Suddenly there was a bright flash of light and then nothing.

"Scanner logs show that both annihilators found their target," Grimes reported. "Target completely destroyed."

"Helm, reverse course," Yin ordered. "Take us to the last known position of the Cylon, maximum pulse."

"Reverse course, aye."

"Engage. How long until we can get clear readings on any remains?"

"Fourteen and a half minutes, Ma'am," reported Grimes.

Yin nodded. "Send this to _Galactica_, 'Cylon appears to have been destroyed. Returning to last known position to confirm.'"

"Message sent."

"Bring main and point defense batteries on line and charge them to full."

* * *

Apollo heard the message from _Terran Shield_. "Looks like you won't be getting any this round, Starbuck."

"Yeah, yeah. I heard," Starbuck groused.

"Well, I can't blame them," Jolly chimed in. "I heard that they were about to make first contact with an alien species and found that the Cylons had destroyed their civilization. And they lost 20 of their people in a science ship that tried to surrender."

"Surrender? To the Cylons?" Starbuck scoffed. "What? Are these people cowards?"

"Taking on a base ship with a ship of that size doesn't strike me as cowardly, old buddy," Apollo told him. "The way I get it, the science ship that tried to surrender was unarmed."

"And they didn't know about the Cylons," Boomer said. "They haven't been much beyond their own system."

"Well, I think they'd rather lose twenty, than their whole planet," Starbuck posited.

"You can be such an astrum, Starbuck," Apollo said angrily. "Those people were someones loved ones. Does your opinion extend to Zak and my mother?"

Starbuck _felt_ like an astrum just about then. He hadn't even thinking about Zak and the Commander's wife when he said it. 'Stupid frack,' he berated himself. 'You weren't thinking at all. Why can't you just keep your big mouth shut?'

"I'm sorry, Apollo. I was out of line. Way out of line."

"Apology accepted. Let's just drop it."

* * *

"Receiving message from _Terran Shield_," Athena reported. "Cylon ship appears to be destroyed. They are returning to the Cylon's last known position to confirm."

Perez nodded. Yin was very thorough. She wouldn't just assume the enemy was destroyed and leave it at that. In the short time he had known her, he had never seen her do anything halfway.

"It seems your Captain Yin is very thorough," Adama said. "I don't see how any ship could survive an explosion of the magnitude this antimatter would cause."

"I don't either, Commander," Perez told him. "But Hong Yin doesn't do anything by half measures. You didn't see the look on her face when you told us about what happened to your worlds. There was no sympathy, no pity. She was outraged at what the Cylons had done to your civilization."

"She seems like a good person to have on your side," Tigh noted.

"She is at that, Colonel."

"Sir," Athena called. "Three ships just appeared. Distance twenty thousand metrics. They are hailing _Terran Shield_."

"Configuration?"

"They appear to be similar to _Terran Shield_ but much smaller. Now receiving hail. Ambassador James on board _Alexandria_ sends his regards and requests permission to approach the fleet."

Adama picked up the communications microphone. "_Alexandria_, This is Battlestar _Galactica. _Permission to approach is granted. We request you come no closer than our fighter defense perimeter."

A well spoken cultured voice came over the speakers. "We will accede to your request. Do I have the privilege of speaking to Commander Adama?"

"I'm Adama. Ambassador James?"

"That's correct sir. I look forward to meeting you. We carry food and supplies for your people."

* * *

A/N: That's it for this chapter. Don't forget to review.


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: Here is the next chapter. I am so terribly sorry it has taken this long to get an update out. Real life has been very hectic and I've also had a touch of the dreaded, acursed, Writer's Block. Hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Reviews are expected and missed when absent._

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica is copyrighted to Glen Larson and Universal Pictures. This is fan fiction which garners **NO MONEY OR OTHER MATERIAL COMPENSATION WHATSOEVER** for the author of this fan fiction

Chapter Seven

"While I do admit that they have formidable weapons in this alternate matter they use," Sire Lemuil began, "they themselves admit that they don't have many warheads, comparatively speaking. They also don't welcome us with open arms to their world."

"I wonder if we might not do the same, Sire," Adama replied. "We do refuse to share weapons technology with them until we know them better."

"That is just prudence," Sire Constello put in. "You don't give real weapons to children, which they still may be. You certainly don't give such to someone you don't call a friend."

Adama nodded. "Very true. But you also don't welcome a stranger into your home until you are acquainted well enough with him to call _him_ friend."

Siress Selene from Taurus spoke up. "They have welcomed us into their neighborhood, so to speak. They offer to let us settle on their fourth planet. I have read the data. We can adapt easily to that environment. They also sent supplies for our civilians. These appear to be a good people. Cautious, of course. Would you really trust them if they just welcomed us with open arms without caution?"

Adama contemplated Selene. She was a no nonsense woman who looked at problems from every angle she could. He had half expected her to to throw up objections. But she seemed cautiously optimistic.

"And their ambassador," she went on, "strikes me as a good man who wants to do the right thing. He asked for nothing in exchange for the supplies his government sent us."

"Not yet," countered Constello. "Will they ask for payment later?"

"If they do," Adama answered, "I think it would be something that would upset Ambassador James. He seems genuinely concerned for out plight and seems to truly believes that these supplies are humanitarian, as they call it, assistance."

"Well, I, for one, would welcome a real sky over my head," Selene said. "I am also tired of breathing recycled air."

Sire Azoz was nodding. "Here, here. We have been refugees long enough. We have found what appears to be the descendents of the thirteenth tribe. From what Adama tells us, if they are not actually descendents, they have been influenced by that tribe in that they have named star patterns in their night sky after our twelve tribes. No matter what, we are brothers. Brothers who have been separated a long time won't necessarily be fast friends when they are first reunited. But if they are civilized, they will work toward such a friendship."

Adama had known he could count on Azoz. He, Adair and Azoz had been almost like brothers in the academy. And they had been, in fact, brothers of the heart if not of the blood.

Constello was nodding slowly. What his fellow councilor said was true. If these people really were civilized. They had gone after the Cylons like mad daggits, giving no quarter or appeal for surrender. Of course he did approve of killing the genocidal Cylons, but to not even give them the opportunity to surrender?

He voiced his concerns. "I agree that we wouldn't want to be their enemies. But do we really want to trust people who don't even give their enemies the opportunity to surrender?"

"From what I have learned," Adama replied, "they have a very bloody history. But they always accepted a surrender as such. If one were offered. Their histories even record instances when they offered favorable terms to their opponents in exchange for surrender. But they lost a science ship with twenty of their most brilliant minds to the Cylons. That ship tried to surrender and the Cylons destroyed them anyway. They have also seen the records of our media coverage of the Holocaust. From what their Admiral Perez tells me, their legislative body was absolutely appalled and deemed the Cylons a grave threat to humanity, basically declaring war on them on the spot. Not for our benefit, but to protect themselves. And he said they would accept an unconditional surrender. They wouldn't offer one but they would accept one if it _was_ offered. But at the first sign of duplicity, the surrendering ship would be destroyed.

"These people are not weak, they don't yet have the advanced manufacturing methods we do, but they are definitely _not_ weak. And they don't tolerate bullying of any kind. I find myself admiring such traits as I don't tolerate bullies, myself."

"Are we really sure we want to complete this trade?" Sire Malthenzar from Leo asked. "A step up in propulsion technology would be welcome, of course, but is it really worth giving them the advantage? They do have a whole solar system for resources."

Malthenzar had always puzzled Adama. The man was thoughtful and it was clear that he had the best interest of the Colonies and his home colony of Leo at heart. But he sometimes switched in mid-stream.

"You agreed to the trade initially, Sire," Adama reminded him. "Are you now having second thoughts?"

"I agreed, _in principle_," the councilor corrected. "And from what I've heard here and my own research, it seems these are trustworthy people. 'Seems' is the operative term here. I have found that anything that looks too good to be true usually is."

"They are not simply giving us their hyperfold, Sire," Selene countered. "They are giving us a planet to settle on. Is it really too much to ask for something in return?"

"Of course not," the representative from Leo answered. "And I'm not saying we shouldn't complete this trade. I simply want to make sure we don't do anything rash and we look at the situation from every angle we can. That's what you are famous for, I believe, Siress."

Adama smiled. Malthenzar was correct. Selene was. He saw what Malthenzar was doing. He deserved his seat. His predecessor, Sire Uri, would have put up objections just to be contrary. The people of Leo had chosen wisely when they had elected Malthenzar after Uri had passed from a coronary during the third yahren of the exodus.

"I have looked at this from every angle I can think of," Selene responded. "And I agree that there is a risk. But you risk every time you trust someone, even a little. From what I have been able to determine, the gains here, both realized and potential far outweigh the risks."

"I have one more suggestion," Adama said. "I recommend offering them the method to manufacture weapons grade tricobol in exchange for the method they use to manufacture antimatter."

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Mr. President?" Selene asked.

"If they agree, I think it would be a show of good faith. On both sides. It would put both them and us on equal terms both offensively and defensively. Of course we wouldn't give them the means to enrich warheads with solium or any other weapons technology. At least until we got to know them better. But to get something, you have to give something. I think this antimatter technology is worth weapons grade tri-cobol.

Selene had a thoughtful look on her face. So did the rest of the councilors. But they were all looking at her. What she said next would most likely decide if this clause was included.

"I think this is a good idea, but I doubt if they will agree," she said. "How do we contain it and keep it from coming into contact with normal matter? I can think of only one way; a force field. And our scientists declared that a dead end. If that's the way they keep it seperated, it will have to be included and I just don't think they will agree to trade two pieces of technology for one."

'All the angles indeed,' Adama mused. "What else do you have in mind then, Siress?" he asked.

"I'm not sure, but only two things spring to mind. The method for enriching warheads with solium or the technical plans for our ship mounted main lasers Were I in their shoes, I wouldn't accept less for such a trade. And it may be worth it. If it is indeed force fields, we can hopefully use it to protect our vipers as well."

Constello spoke up. "The manufacturing methods for a solium enriched warhead is out of the question. The specs for the main batteries? Maybe. But enriching warheads with solium? No. That is just too dangerous."

Adama agreed. "I would suggest," he said, "that we offer weapons grade tri-cobol for their antimatter technology. If need be we can agree to share our main battery technology. We might just get a bargain here."

"That is acceptable to Tauron," Selene said.

"Any disagreement?" Adama inquired.

There seemed to be none.

"Caprica moves for a finalizing vote on the trade of our manufacturing techniques for the United Earth Confederation's Hyperfold drive and weapons grade tri-cobol for their antimatter technology," Adama said.

"Tauron seconds the motion," Selene put in.

"It has been moved and seconded. All those in favor of finalizing the trade indicate so by a show of hands."

Eleven hands went into the air. Malthenzar was the only hold out. Slowly he raised his hand as well.

"Let it be recorded," Adama said, "that the motion passes unanimously. Let the record also reflect that Malthenzar, Councilor for Leo has reservations."

"I do not have reservations," Malthenzar said. "I was weighing everything in my mind. Had I truly had reservations, the vote would have been eleven to one."

"I stand corrected," Adama allowed. "No insult was intended, Sire."

"None was taken, Mr President."

* * *

Ambassador James was on-board Terran Shield discussing the upcoming trade with the colonials with Perez when the comm sounded.

"Perez here."

"Yin here, Admiral. Alexandria has just signaled. Commander Adama wishes to speak to Ambassador James."

"Thank you, Captain," Perez replied. "Please open a channel to _Galactica_ and put it through to this station."

"Yes, sir," Yin responded crisply.

"She's one hell of a good officer. I see why you put her in command."

Perez nodded. "She hasn't given me cause to regret it, nor do I expect she will. You should have seen the look on her face when Adama told us about the destruction of their worlds. No tears, no sadness. She was in a near rage. It was very tightly controlled, but seldom have I seen such anger."

The screen chose that moment to come to life. Adama was looking at his camera. "Admiral Perez? I need to speak to the Ambassador."

James moved into range as Perez vacated his seat to give the the camera full attention to James.

"I'm here, Commander. I assume you have news."

Adama smiled. "Very good news. Our council has voted to finalize the trade agreement. We have the documents for you to look over before you sign them. We are transmitting them now. If you agree, I would be pleased to receive you aboard for the signing ceremony."

The document Adama spoke of appeared on a secondary screen. James was speed reading it. He looked back at the screen and smiled although it was a puzzled smile.

"I see from this that you are including the means to manufacture weapons grade Tri-cobol. While I am gratified you would trust us with this, I thought you had said no weapons technology until we were better acquainted."

"You obviously haven't read far enough. We are asking for the methods to manufacture Antimatter in exchange."

Now James understood. He nodded and went back to the document. Sure enough, there was the provision that the Confederation would include Antimatter manufacturing specifications as part of the trade.

"This was unexpected. I'll need a day or so to confer with my superiors, although I expect they will agree."

"Understood, Ambassador. Contact me when you have an answer. We can remove this clause from the agreement if you wish. We were simply trying for a show of good faith on both sides."

I'll contact you as soon as I get the word from my superiors."

"Understandable. Until then, I wish you good day, Ambassador."

The screen darkened.

James looked at Perez and said, "What do you make of that, Ed?"

"It sounds to me like what he said it was, Sid. A show of good faith on both sides. And this would put us on equal footing, offensively and defensively. But I don't expect the State Department to agree. At least not without something else from the Colonials. Antimatter requires force field technology. We'd have to give them that too. They would be getting two for one."

Sidney James' eyes widened.. "Hmmm. Hadn't thought of that one. Well, I need to get a call out to the Secretary of State."

"Use my comm terminal here. I'll leave the room while you talk to the Secretary."

"No. Stay," James said. "You are the senior military officer in the theater. You need to know everything I know."

James pressed the button to signal the Control Room. Perez spoke once Control had answered. "I need a secure, encoded channel to Headquarters. Tell them the Ambassador to the Colonial Nation needs to speak to the Secretary of State on a treaty matter."

"Yes sir," replied Reed. "I'll also inform Captain Yin."

"When the Secretary of State is ready to speak to the Ambassador, put it through to this station."

"Understood, sir. Control out."

* * *

"They want to _what_?" The Secretary of Stare couldn't believe it. "I thought they wouldn't share weapons until we had a better understanding of each other."

"They are asking for antimatter technology in return, sir," James said.

Secretary Svenson rubbed his chin, thoughtfully. "No. I don't think so. We would like their weapons grade tri-cobol but it's not enough. Without force fields, antimatter is theoretical. So we would have to give them both. You can't have antimatter without some way to safely contain it once it's manufactured. Force fields is the only thing science has come up with."

"That's what Admiral Perez said you'd say."

"Well, Sid, he's not an admiral for nothing," Svenson said.

"Do you think it might be possible to negotiate with them for something else in addition to Wep grade tri-cobol?"

Svenson looked skeptical. "It would have to be something big. Maybe teleport technology, if they have such. I'll leave it to your discretion, but make sure we get our money's worth. If they can't deliver such to your satisfaction, then we can go with the original agreement."

James nodded. "Yes, sir. Sounds like a plan."

"I'll let you get to it," Svenson said. "Svenson out."

The screen darkened.

* * *

James and Perez had shuttled over to the Galactica to meet with Adama for the next round of treaty negotiations. They sat in Adama's office.

"Since you asked for a meeting, I assume your superiors don't think weapons grade Tri-cobol is enough for your antimatter technology."

James nodded. "That's correct, sir. We understand and appreciate your attempt at a show of good faith and if it were only the antimatter technology itself, it would be enough.

James paused for breath and then continued. "We would have to give you a means of safely containing it. If we didn't, as soon as you created it, the ship or facility that manufactured it would be destroyed. That would be criminally negligent on our part. We know only one way to contain antimatter and prevent it from coming into contact with normal matter; a neutral force field. We have detected no force fields on any of your ships or fighters.

"In other words, we would have to give you two pieces of technology. We would want two in return."

"What do you suggest, Ambassador?"

"Do you have teleport technology," James asked.

Adama was nonplussed. "Teleport? What's that?"

"Maybe you call it by a different name," James returned. "The method to disassemble, transform into energy and transmit the molecules of an object to a remote location, reassembling the object at destination."

Adama's mouth opened but no sound came out. He closed his mouth and tried again. "That's just not possible. We don't have anything like that. We haven't even considered such research."

"Would you have anything else that you might trade?"

Adama was still looking stunned. "I'm sorry. Disintegrating and reassembling matter is just fantastic to me. You people have very creative imaginations. Anyway, yes, we do have something you might like. We have main laser batteries on Galactica."

Perez nodded. "I know, we saw them. And I hate to admit it, but I lusted after them a bit." He gave a sheepish grin.

"We would be willing to include the technical plans for that and weapons grade tri-cobolt in exchange for antimatter technology and the means to contain it."

James turned to Perez. "Your opinion of such a trade, Admiral?"

"This appears to be an excellent bargain, Ambassador," Perez told him."If we had such lasers, in addition to the annihilators, we would definitely be a major threat to the Cylons; or anyone else that decided they wanted a piece of us."

James nodded t then spoke to Adama. "We would like a demonstration of their abilities. We can launch a target probe or two. This will give us a good idea whether or not they are worth the trade."

Adama didn't know what to make of this. Anything shuttle sized or less wouldn't last more than a micron under fire from the main batteries. At least none constructed of material their scanners had detected comprising or on any of the Earth ships.

He said as much. "We have scanned you, as I'm sure you have scanned us. We have detected no material on your ships, except for the hulls themselves that can withstand fire from our main batteries for more than a micron. And anythhing smaller than the size of one of our shuttles, even comprised of your main hull material wouldn't last any longer, either. I think a micron roughly translates to a second."

"You are correct," Perez said. "But our target probes can gather and transmit quite a bit of data in a burst stream before they are destroyed. They would give us the power output of your main batteries. They wouldn't survive it of course, but they _are_ expendable, just as any target is."

"I'm not sure I understand what 'burst stream' is," Adama said, "but no matter. I would be happy to give a demonstration.

* * *

Captain Yin was looking at the data the target probes had sent before being destroyed. She shook her head in wonder. "Admiral, this is incredible. _Terran Shield_ wouldn't last more than five seconds without a hull breach under this kind of fire. I think you can tell the ambassador we want these main batteries."

"I'll tell him. You surprise me. This is the first time I've heard you say something was more than 'satisfactory'.

"I have high standards, sir," Yin said. "But these exceed my standards."

Perez nodded. He knew this from her service record, of course. Which is one of the reasons he had selected her as his executive officer.

He left the control room and walked to the Ambassador's quarters. After he was seated in Sidney James' quarters he said, "We want these main batteries. With the Weapons Grade Tri-Cobol, this will be a very good bargain for antimatter technology."

* * *

_A/N: That's it for this chapter. Don't forget to review._


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: Here is the next chapter. Sorry it has been so long, but real life has been very busy for me. Sorry it's so short but this is somewhat of a transition chapter. This is a VERY minor rewrite. Just changed a word in the last sentence. Reviews are appreciated and missed when absent

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica belongs to Glen Larson and Universal Studios. This is fan fiction when garners _**NO MONEY WHATSOEVER**_ for the author of this work.

Chapter 8

The next five months were busy for the colonials. They began fitting their ships with the hyperfold drive. Fortunately the third planet had abundant mineral resources. However there was no Tylium. To conserve fuel for the colonial fleet, Terran Shield kept cap going round the clock.

This would normally be wearing for the Terran Shield air group, but the pilots of Galactica were the best and learned quickly. So did the Galactica's deck crew. Starbuck marveled at the efficiency of the F-504 fighters. They weren't Vipers, and they didn't have lasers but their projectile cannons and missiles were still very formidable. Though having a shield did take getting used to. He talked with the deck crew about having an audible tone sound when the shield power dropped to zero. That way he could devote all his concentration to fighting.

Starbuck had been the first to qualify on the UEC F-504 Stingray. The fact that he was a natural pilot helped. He even out-flew the pilot they called Maniac, a man named Martin Kern, in the simulator. Kern was the best and went hard at it.

He gave Starbuck a run for his money, but Starbuck had a lot more experience fighting than any of the UEC pilots.

"You're good, kid," Starbuck told him. "Best I've ever seen. I'm not used to flying a shielded ship, but you still need to watch the headons. Use your lateral thrusters more. And the Z-axis thrusters aren't there just to look pretty. Using all your thrusters is vital. Especially when your shield goes down. And it drives the Cylons nuts."

"Lateral thrusters. Z-axis thrusters. Thanks," Kern said. "I thought I'd take you in a walk. Never seen anyone as good as you."

"When you've fought for as long as I have, you'll be as good," Starbuck told him. "Of course by then, I'll have fought more too and be better."

Kern burst out laughing. "I like you. You know who you remind me of? Me."

"Yeah? Well, I've looked at some of the records and from them I can tell you this, your CAG is one great pilot.

"Yeah," Kern said, "Wildcard's a real pistol. Guess that's why he's CAG and I'm not."

Rollins had just entered the room. "No, Maniac, the reason you aren't CAG is because no matter how good you are in the cockpit, you don't have the experience in handling people. So, does Starbuck check out?"

"And then some, Commander," Kern told him. "He beat me in the simulator. I'd fly with him as a wingmate any day of the week."

Rollins stepped up to the data terminal and replayed the record of the duel. He whistled. "Not only lateral thrusters but Z-axis thrusters too. Were you born in a cockpit, Captain?"

"Don't think so," Starbuck replied, "but sometimes it seems that way, even to me."

"Well, you're cleared for CAP. Tell your CAG to get his other pilots over here and we'll get them cleared as well."

"Why do you call this an Air Group? Wouldn't Space Group be more in line?"

"Don't know, Captain," Rollins answered. He shrugged. "Probably comes from our experience of operating floating aircraft carriers. No matter what it's called, it serves the same function."

Starbuck nodded. "I'll let Apollo know and we'll get some of our boys over here to get checked out. Only difference is these ships have a shield and they fire projectiles instead of lasers."

Rollins smiled. "Yeah, about that. These ships are going to be upgraded to carry your lasers. We've managed to adapt the plans for the main batteries to to give our stingray's laser cannons. It'll take a bit to get all of the birds upgraded, but as they're ready, we'll have them available for CAP."

Starbuck nodded in approval. "Good. Those projectile weapons are good, but I still feel naked without lasers. Just what you're used to, I guess."

* * *

"Admiral, the Colonial fleet reports they are ready to jump to Sol."

Perez nodded. "Thank you, Captain Yin. Coordinate with the Colonial fleet and jump when ready."

Yin nodded. "Yes, sir. Communications, confirm all ships have the correct coordinates."

Five minutes later, Lt. Knight said, "All Colonial ships have reported. They all confirm correct coordinates."

"Sound General Quarters," Yin ordered. "Order all Navy Ships to do the same."

The klaxons started sounding.

Shortly, Knight reported, "All UEC ships report they are at General Quarters. All decks acknowledge General Quarters.

Yin looked at her chronometer. Four minutes ten seconds. She nodded in approval.

"All Navy ships but us to jump, Soon as they are away, the Colonial Fleet will jump. We'll cover the rear."

"Aye," Knight responded. "Constantinople, Kiev and Alexandria have jumped. Colonial fleet is jumping now."

"Report when they are all away," ordered Yin.

"Yes, sir."

Less than two minutes later, Knight spoke up. "Colonial fleet has completed jump."

"Engage hyperfold," Yin ordered.

"Engaging hyperfold." Suddenly they were in the Sol System.

"Translation successful," Lt. Knight said.

Yin began issuing orders. "Launch Cap. Tactical, identify any threats. What's the status on Constantinople, Kiev, Alexandria and the Colonial Fleet?"

"Cap launched," Knight said. "All UEC and Colonial ships accounted for."

"Nothing on scanners except the Fleet, sir," Running Dear reported.

"Acknowledged," Yin said. "Give the Fleet the coordinates to Mars and tell them to make for there, best speed, Navy ships to follow and provide screen."

"Yes, sir," Knight responded.

They were en route to Mars when 1st class petty officer Reed spoke up. "Captain, we are receiving a message. Language is unfamiliar, but appears similar to ancient Egyptian."

"Source?" Yin asked.

"Mars, sir," Reed said.

* * *

Athena's eyes widened. "Commander, we are receiving a message from destination. It is in ancient Kobollian."

Adama's eyes widened too. "Ancient Kobollian? I thought these people didn't know about us.."

Athena listened and then said, "It's not from the Earthers. It's a distress call from the destroyer _Firestalker. _It's a repeating message.

"Put it on speakers," Adama ordered. Not many spoke or understood Ancient Kobolian, but Adama and his family did.

After hearing the message, he said, "Shut it off and hail Terran Shield."

The voice fell silent. "Sir," Athena said, "Terran Shield is hailing us."

"Respond," ordered Adama. "Put it on my viewer."

Soon he was looking at Captain Yin. "Commander," she began, "have you received any messages from the fourth planet?"

Adama nodded. "Yes, Captain, we have. I was just about to hail you."

"We are still working on a translation at this time. Do you know who is sending the message?"

Adama nodded. "Yes. It is in our ancient language. It was sent by a destroyer named _Firestalker._ It is from our thirteenth tribe."

"A distress call? We've found no sign of life on Mars when we began terraforming it," Yin replied.

Adama shook his head. "No. There is no life aboard the ship. It is an automated message. It picked up our engine signatures and began automatic transmission. There is one other destroyer on Mars. The_ Starhound_."

Perez stepped into pick-up range. "Commander, I'm afraid I'm going to have to provisionally claim those ships as UEC property. They are in our system. We won't take possession of them until we can negotiate, but for now, we claim them and neither side is to enter them without a representative of the other side being present."

Adama regarded Perez with a bit of surprise. He had expected the man to claim them for his government outright. To provisionally claim them showed that this man knew and respected diplomacy.

"I understand, sir," Adama said. "I had expected you to claim them unconditionally."

Perez shook his head. "Not correct diplomacy. Oh, my government is going to want them, and for that reason, I would have been remiss in my duties had I not provisionally claimed them."

* * *

Author's Note: Well that's it for this chapter. Again sorry it was so short. Don't forget to review


	9. Chapter 9

_Author's notes: I am most dreadfully sorry it has taken this long to post an update. Real life and more than a touch of writer's block has gotten in the way. This chapter may seem a bit jarring at some point but the point of view changes are necessary to the overall story plan. I could have made it two chapters, but that would have made this chapter **EXTREMELY **short and the next very short as well. So I decided not to do it in two chapters. Reviews are appreciated and missed when absent._

_Disclaimer: Battlstar Galactica is the property of Universal Studios and Glen Larson. This is fan fiction which garners _**NO MONEY WHATSOEVER**_for the author of this work._

Chapter 9

Captain Artook Meto of the Ratroka Exploration vessel _Metalaiki_ (which meant Explorer in their language) watched as his world went from a dot among the stars to a disk. At the proper distance the subspace drive switched off and they were back in normal space.

"Contact Exploration Command," the captain ordered.

His wife, Artook Begal called out. "No satellites in orbit. There should be fifty or more. But they're gone."

"What about the debris," he asked.

"No sign of debris," Begal responded. "It's as if they were just scooped out of the sky."

"No response from Exploration Command. No transmissions at all. Not even on the commercial channels."

"What in Almais is going on here.?" Meto wondered aloud. "Take us down, helmsman. Land us at the airport just outside of Sipataro."

"Taking us down, aye," replied the helsman. "Destination, Sipataro Airport.

The main viewer went to white when they entered the atmosphere. Then it cleared. Something didn't seem right.

"Magnification 10 on the viewer," the captain ordered.

When the magnified view came up, Artook gasped. He could see two cities in ruins. "Abort approach to Sipataro Airport," he ordered. "Take us in a high altitude sweep. Find us the nearest city that hasn't been destroyed."

"Yes sir," replied the helmsman. "Aborting approach to Sipataro Airport."

Begal called out. "Met, I can't find any cities that are intact. Every one I can find is just ruins. What are we going to do?" It was clear she was upset and very frightened.

"We'll have to hope that we can find some survivors." He looked to his science officer, Mataro Alran. "What could have caused this, Al?"

"I have no idea. I am getting energy signatures. It looks like some of these cities were struck with laser fire. That or some type of energy weapon.

* * *

They had made four full passes. No life detected except a few altrak, mikka, and zokra and not many of them.

They were back in orbit. They had landed and found bodies hacked with what looked like swords and also bodies killed by laser burns. The fifty two crew persons of the Metalaiki were all that was left of their species. Captain Artook had had his engineers salvage any weapons they could find and the Metalaiki was now armed with three particle beam cannons and four kinetic rail guns. Even with this, morale was very low.

"This is the captain speaking. We don't know who murdered our world and our people, but we have now fitted weapons onto the Metalaiki. We will search out the nearer stars and make the ones who did this pay or we will die in the trying. Captain out."

Artook closed the ship-wide channel. "Navigator, plot a course to the nearest star out from Anmere."

"Yes sir," Tolurn Mako, the navigator replied. "That would be Malvene. It's a binary system. The main star is a Blue, the secondary a white dwarf. At maximum safe cruise travel time is just over twenty one days."

Artook nodded. "Understood. As soon as the course is plotted, engage at factor five."

"Course calculated and laid in," Tolurn reported.

"Engaging at factor five," the helmsman said. "Subspace drive now activated. Our speed is factor five."

* * *

"You are to claim those vessels, Sid," the Secretary of State told the Ambassador. "We will share any technology we find within them with the Colonials, but the hulls are ours."

"I'm not sure that will go over very well with their Council of Twelve," James said.

"Those two vessels are in our system on a planet we own. Their Thirteenth Tribe is not represented on their Council. Their fleet belongs to them and we would not dream of taking it from them. But these ships are not members of their fleet. We claim salvage rights."

"The fact that we will share any technology we find will soften things somewhat, but I'm afraid they are going to think us thieves."

The Secretary of State shook his head. "No. Thieves take what does not belong to them. We are taking nothing that belongs to the Colonial Nation. Their Thirteenth Tribe does not belong to, nor is represented in the government of, that nation."

* * *

"This is ridiculous," Sire Counstello said. "These ships obviously belong to us. How dare they claim them, provisionally or otherwise?"

Siress Selene was looking very thoughtfull. "I'm not sure they do belong to us, Sire," she said slowly.

"Oh, come now, Siress," Counstello said. "They belonged to our people. They are ours."

"Do you see a councilor from the Thirteenth Tribe among us? I don't. The Thirteenth Tribe is not represented here. They were among our ancestors, but they don't belong to this government."

Sire Malthenzar spoke up. "So you are saying that they were right to provisionally claim those ships?"

"What I'm saying," Selene said, "is that I'm astonished that they claimed them only provisionally. By our salvage laws they had the right to claim them completely, not just provisionally."

Adama nodded. Selene was very correct. He gave voice to his thoughts. "The honorable Siress Selene is correct. Those ships rest on or in soil owned by the United Earth Confederation. According to our salvage laws, those ships belong to them."

"But are they ready for the technology they will find with those ships?" Sire Lemuil wondered.

"I'm curious if we would be ready for the same technology," Sire Azoz mused. "It is very likely that those ships have a higher level of technology than our own."

"And how do you come to that conclusion?" asked Sire Torencio, representative from Gemenon.

"Their sensing devices detected our engine signatures from a distance or hundreds of thousands, if not millions of kilometrics. Not even we can do that."

"We must have the technology that those ships contain," Counstello said.

Selene spoke again, slowly, considering what she was saying. "And what do we do if they claim them and all technology within them and refuse to share? They have a fleet of warships. True, not many have their hyperfold drive, but they are all armed. And they have this anti-matter technology. Which from what I understand is more powerful than a solium enriched warhead."

"I intend to ask them to share, at least the technology within those ships," Adama said. "If they refuse, then I don't see that there is anything we can do about it. But why would they refuse? These people seem to be reasonable. They aren't like those Terrans we encountered in our first yahren of the Exodus."

"You're too trusting, Adama," Counstello told him.

"Too trusting?" Adama felt slightly insulted. "You're saying this to the man who had grave doubts, that were confirmed, by the way, about the Cimitar peace accords?"

"Adama is a lot of things," Selene put in, "but gullible isn't one of them."

Just then the bridge comm sounded. "Commander," Colonel Tigh's voice came over the comm. "_Alexandria_ is hailing us. They say the Ambassador needs to speak to you."

"Pipe it down here, Tigh," Adama ordered.

"Yes sir."

"Commander Adama, This is Ambassador James."

"Ambassador," Adama replied.

"Commander, I have new orders from my government. We unconditionally claim the hulls of the vessels of the Thirteenth tribe. They are resting on a planet we own and and appear to be abandoned. Therefore by our salvage laws, they belong to us."

Counstello opened his mouth to speak. Adama raised a finger. Counstello reluctantly remained silent.

"What about the technology within those hulls?" Adama asked.

"We will share that technology with you, but the hulls themselves are ours."

Adama cocked an eyebrow at Counstello. Counstello looked sheepish. Adama did know his business.

"We thank you for sharing the technology, Ambassador. Some of us had concerns you would want to keep it all for yourselves. The hulls and the technology."

"We hope to be friends with the Colonial Nation," James said. "Being greedy is rather counterproductive in that regard."

"It's gratifying to know I am still able to judge character," Adama said. "We thank you for your generosity in sharing the technology within those ships."

"You're welcome, Commander. Alexandria out."

After Tigh reported that Alexandria had ended communications, Counstello said, "I've got to hand it to you, Adama. You do know what you are doing. You read them like a book."

"I told you he wasn't gullible," Selene put in.

* * *

Saroz, a Colonial linguistics expert examined the writings on the downed alien craft from which the UEC had reverse engineered the Hyperfold. He scratched his head. "This looks vaguely similar to Hazari writing. It's not Hazari, but it has the same general feel. I do recognize three characters here. One is Hazari. The other two are Delphian." He pointed to three different symbols. "This is Delphian for Eject," he said, pointing toward the first. Then indicating the second, he said, "This is Delphian for drive or possibly motive force. The third one here," he pointed. "This is Hazari for distress."

Marcus Allen, a UEC scientist said, "So this is a hybrid Delphian/Hazari craft?"

"As far as we know, the Delphians and Hazari never knew of one another. One moment." Saroz pulled out another instrument, made some adjustments and pivoted in a circle holding the device at arm's length. When he had completed a complete circle, he looked at the readout. "This might explain it. This shows that the materials this room is constructed from are more than twelve thousand yahrens old. We had not encountered either species at that time.

It is not outside the realm of possibility that they knew of one another, formed an alliance, and then forgot due to some cataclysm. Unlikely, yes. Impossible, no."

"Are there any records that you know of on Hazar or Delphi that would indicate this?"

Saroz shook his head. "I don't know. I would have to study our records and the histories to know for sure. And even then, it might not be something that was recorded on either world."

"Surely they would have documented a cataclysmic event," Allen said.

"Not necessarily if they were fighting for their survival. I need to return to Galactica and access the computron historical database."

Confederation and Colonial scientists studied the technology of the two Thirteenth Tribe ships and the downed alien craft for almost two months when the UEC detected an alien spacecraft inside the Sol system

* * *

_Author's Notes: That's it for this chapter. I'll try not to take as long with the next update, but no guarantees. Don't forget to review._


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